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Clara Bruton, 92, is one of those people
who truly knows how to “live in the moment.”
When asked recently what she enjoys, she
replied “Whatever I’m doing. Whether it’s something special or just
picking up sticks in the yard, I enjoy everything I do.”
Whether that attitude has contributed to
her longevity is uncertain, but it obviously hasn’t hurt. Except for
four hip surgeries, and, more recently, chest pain that requires
medication, Bruton said she’s always enjoyed good health.
Even though she lives for the moment,
Bruton obviously has a great reverence for the past, and is very much
interested in the future that her children and grandchildren will help
shape.
 The
photographs and paintings which fill her house are evidence of this.
In addition to many old family photographs, including her parents’
wedding photo from 1910, there are numerous photos of her children,
grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Several of the paintings in Bruton’s
house depict her old family homestead -- and she painted each of them.
“I was born right up the road there,” she
said, pointing up the road towards FM 2318, “My daughter lives there
now. It’s been redone but I paint it like it used to look.” The
paintings, very well executed, are something that Bruton first began
doing in the 1970s. She also crochets and enjoys cooking and playing
42. “Although I don’t get a chance to play 42 that much anymore,” she
said.
Many of her memories of the past revolve
around her family -- her father Robert “Rob” Nabors, her mother Orlena
Gilmore Nabors, and even her grandmother, Sarah Ann Tolan. “My family
came here from Alabama in 1889,” she said. “My grandmother, Sarah Ann,
was raised in an orphan’s home. My granddaddy on my mother’s side had
the first drug store in DeLeon. It was in the same block that Jim
Franks’ store is.”
Her siblings -- Leland, Otis, Olene and
Eloise -- are the source of many comforting memories. “I only have
Eloise left,” she said. “She lives in California. The others have
passed.”
Clara’s husband, Sidney, passed too, in
1985. “We had four children together,” she said, “Glenn, James, Lynita
and Benny. My husband was a railroader, but when he came here from
Waco, he did carpenter work.” Among Sidney Bruton’s handiwork is a
number of beautifully crafted grandfather clocks, including several
that he made for their children. Those children have now produced nine
grandchildren, and 24 great-grandchildren. “I send each one of them a
birthday card each year with a dollar and a package of gum in it,”
Clara said.
Bruton ran her own business -- Clara’s
Beauty Shop -- from the 1950s until 1976, and was quite active in
DeLeon.
She was a member of the Garden Club, and
an Eastern Star Past Worthy Matron. She remembers a DeLeon with
several grocery stores, variety stores and a department store.
“Now, I only go to the beauty shop, the
grocery store and to the Methodist Church in town,” she said. “I just
go to the church part time though,” she said, “because I’ve been a
member of the Morton Chapel Methodist Church for 92 years. We only
have services there on the second, fourth and fifth Sundays, so the
rest of the time I go into town.”
Bruton can recite the history of the
Morton Chapel church, with ease, including the fact that the church
was first erected elsewhere, and that it was moved to its present
location in the early 1920s. “It was built in 1910,” she said, “and
they moved it over to where it is now, (on FM 2318) in the early
1920s. It was a wooden building then, and they cut in half in two and
moved it. It was named for Uncle Jack Morton.”
Although her trips to town may be less
frequent than in the past, Bruton makes the most of her regular visits
to the “beauty shop” where she gets her hair styled and gets a
pedicure. Her toenails, painted a deep color and accented with tiny
jewels, are the envy of women half her age. “Boba does that, over at
Guys and Gals, “ she said, “she makes them fancy every time. And Karen
Whitehead does my hair.”
Bruton, who will turn 93 October 20,
drinks buttermilk three times a day and says that ice cream is a
particular weakness for her. “I don’t hardly ever buy ice cream,” she
said, “because I can’t leave it in the deep freeze.” Although she does
like fruits and vegetables, she also believes in the healthful
benefits of vinegar and honey. “I’ve been drinking that mixture for at
least 40 years,” she said, “once in the morning and once at night.”
Although she hasn’t traveled much, Bruton
doesn’t feel she’s missed anything and is very happy with her life.
“But I did enjoy it when James took me to Alabama several years ago,”
she said. Bruton said she enjoyed visiting the church that her
grandparents had attended before they came to Texas, and seeing the
grave of the baby that died just prior to their journey.
Bruton remembers the rationing of fuel,
sugar and so on during World War II, but doesn’t recall it being a
particular hardship. “Everybody had to do it,” she said, “it was just
something you didn’t worry about.”
One of her clearest memories is one of
her earliest, and also involves a World War.
“I was five years old in 1918,” she said.
“We had an old-timey telephone, and Papa and Mama and Leland and me
were sitting in the living room by the fireplace. The telephone rang
and papa got up and answered it and they told him the war was over and
Stanley Carruth (a relative) was on his way home. Papa and Mama went
to crying and I did too. I can remember that so well.”
As she enjoys her day-to-day life, and
her memories, Bruton is looking forward to October, when her entire
family will gather.
“Every October the family gathers and
they have a family reunion right out here in my front yard,” she said.
“I sure enjoy it.” |
