General Notes

A Short Biography

    Ethel Caroline Hargis was born on January 11, 1889 in Diswood, Illinois. Her parents were Catherine Laura Hulen and Thomas Franklin Hargis. Thomas died in 1896 when Ethel was about seven years old. Later Catherine married "Ole Man" (Charles) Brown. She was known to her grandchildren as "Grandma Brown".

    Ethel had two sisters who lived to adulthood, May, born 1878 and Ollie born 1886.

    She met Harry Augustus Clark when he came to work in a gunpowder factory in Fayeville and stayed in her mother's boarding house in Sandusky. Ethel was teaching in a one-room country school at the time. They were married on June 7, 1910. at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Cairo, Illinois. She converted to Catholicism from the Baptist religion.

    Their first child was born on March 28, 1911, and named Harry Hugh Clark. Rita May was born January 5, 1914. Vincent Leo followed on July 31, 1915, and Byron Alexis on July 23, 1918.

    On December 5, 1921, on 13th street in E. St Louis, the twins Margaret Mary Helen and Eugene Thomas were born. Sometime after that the family moved to Cruthersville, MO. The last child, Mary Jo was born July 7,1927 on 40th Street in E. St. Louis. There was a bad hailstorm the day she was born. The family moved to 836 N. 83rd street around 1928. Mary Helen & Gene started first grade at St. Philips School there.

    Ethel, Harry and granddaughter, Rita May moved to River Blvd. in Tampa, Florida in 1953. Rita remembers Mary Jo crying as they drove away. Ethel died in Tampa on January 16, 1966, of lateral scleroses of the spine.


Memories of Ethel, written by her granddaughter Linda

    Freddi remembers that she kept "sody pop" in the pantry and that it was ok to drink one.

    Paul remembers that when he came to visit and wanted to give Grandma a big hug, everybody would say, "Don't hug Grandma too hard." She usually sat in a special chair in the living room facing the big picture window. He remembers being in Grandma's bedroom on River Blvd. with her and Mom, saying the rosary.

    Several of the grandchildren remember the greenish powder in the metal can that she would burn on a saucer and inhale the smoke to help her breathe. I believe it was called Asmador; it has since been taken off the market. It is what probably gave her the emphysema she had before she died.

    This memory is from when I was four or five in East St. Louis: When Grandma gave us an apple or pear to eat, we were supposed to show her the core before we threw it away, to make sure we had eaten enough of it.

    I stayed with her and DaddyPop several summers in Tampa when I was around 11 and 12. I rode over one summer on the Greyhound bus. I remember Grandma telling me that her nose itched. She meant that we were getting company - Mom & Dad were coming that day to take me home. We baked an applesauce spice cake. We put it in a cardboard box in the oven to keep it fresh. We forgot about it and turned on the oven for some other reason. Naturally, it caught on fire, at least the box charred, but we picked off the ashes and served the cake. Something else I remember her cooking was corn fritters made with Bisquik.

    Grandma had a subscription to Workbasket magazine. It contained a lot of embroidery patterns and other sewing crafts. She once showed me how to do "huck" embroidery. I remember that she saved trading stamps and I went with her and DaddyPop to redeem them for a set of blue willow dishes.

    Momma told me that Grandma would much rather work in the yard or sweep the alley than do housework or cook. I asked what she fixed for suppers. On Fridays, she would sometimes fix salmon patties with mashed potatoes and peas, or fry "jack salmon", called whiting these days. Meatloaf was another supper Mom remembers. Sounds like our Mom fixed a lot of what she ate growing up, because we had that for dinner too. Grandma had a cast iron skillet and when it got crusty on the outside, she would build a bonfire and burn the skillet in there until it was good as new. Grandma didn't work outside of the home-with seven children there was plenty to keep her busy at home. Once in a while she would go to quilting bees at the church or afternoon card parties where they played bunko or canasta.

    Grandma often had her groceries delivered by Mr. Mueller from Ritter's Groceries on State Street. During the depression she ran up a bill of around $300, but they extended her credit and she paid them back when times got better. She had a garden where she grew vegetables including carrots and okra.

    Grandma sewed for Mom. When it was time to fit the dresses, if something wasn't just right she would reassure Mom by saying "you'll never see it on a galloping horse". Another saying was "you look like something the cat drug in", or "you look like a rat nested in your hair". Again, if you weren't looking your best: "You look like you were sent for and couldn't go". If you were looking for an item and it was right in front of you, "if it had been a snake, it would have bit you". If you choked, Grandma might say to you, "That must have gone down your Sunday pipe" or "That must have had bones in it." She might have been slightly superstitious. She did not like for anyone to open an umbrella in the house and did not want Mary Helen to get married on her anniversary.

    Momma remembers that Grandma once gave a birthday party for DaddyPop but she was late getting there, she had been in Chicago for some reason and got lost coming home. When Rita May was a teenager she had a birthday party with boys and girls. Mom remembers that there were wash tubs filled with soda pop.

    I remember once DaddyPop returned from a weekend retreat and brought Grandma a rather colorful rosary. Her comment was that it seemed rather 'loud'. This confused me, because I couldn't hear it! I must have been about four at the time. I still have that Rosary.

- LHC

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  Burial Notes

Garden of Memories Cemetery, Catholic Garden - Sect. 2