Mightier Acorns

A treasured digital artifact

My maternal grandparents were Alberta Tuttle and Russell H. Clark, Sr. I recently acquired a digital copy of the video tape they made in 1990 for their 44th wedding anniversary, which starts with the two of them sharing the story of how the met, and then consists largely of Grandma reading a list of the places they lived. Here is just a text-based sample of their humor and personality.

Russ: Bert and I met on a blind date. A fellow sailor brought me to New Jersey to meet Bert, and we had a terrific time. We just did the town. We did everything that money or love can possibly do. We spent about 6 hours with this other couple, and then at the end of the evening, we separated. And at the time, the next morning, I was supposed to be shipping out, and we knew that we wouldn’t see each other any more. Undoubtedly, we thought that maybe we weren’t ever going to ever see each other again, because it was wartime.

I went away and spent about nearly two years in the military, got injured, went into the hospital, they brought me back to the United States on a hospital ship. And I kept quiet and didn’t get in touch with her until I was able to get around again. And then we got together, we set a date, and we had a terrific time at that meeting. Everyone was so friendly. Her mother and dad were exceptional people. We got acquainted, they took us…her mother and father took us out to a dance that evening at a nightclub in New Jersey, and we really enjoyed ourselves.

Of course, then I had to keep going back and forth to the hospital until I got my discharge. Then, when I was discharged from the military, I took up my abode in Maplewood, New Jersey, to be near Bert. And we, by the time we were really getting serious, we had gotten to know each other real well, and we knew that we were in love with each other, and we became engaged. This went on for a year because her father did not want us to get married right away.

And it was hard on us, but we were up to it. We did a good job of waiting, and then that wonderful day came when we got married. We were married on March the 2nd 1946. We went to the church and there we were joined together.

Bert: When he came to the house, everybody just stood all together – my girlfriend, this fellow that brought him. And they just all stood there like a bunch of dummies. My father was sitting down waiting for an introduction and nobody would do it so Russ stuck out his hand and said “I’m Russ Clark, sir.” Well, that made points with my dad, believe me!

So, we talked a while and also I remember before Russ came, I asked Eddie – Eddie Hadley was the name of the sailor – I asked him, I said, “What kind of a fellow are you gonna bring me?” 

He says, “Oh, he has no teeth and he’s bald and he’s short and dumpy.” and I said, “I wouldn’t put it past you a bit, Eddie. That’s just about the way you’d do it. I’m not sure whether I really want to go or not.” 

So they finally convinced me to go ahead. I’d never been on a blind date before. But when I saw him at the door, I knew this was going to be okay.

I told my mother I said, “This is the first time I’ve ever been out with a man!” I’d been going out with boys, say about 17 or 18, but then when Russ decided he wanted to marry me, he went to my dad, and he said, “She’s still wet behind the ears, she’s too young.” Of course, I was 20, and I was too young? So, I said, “Okay, dad, I’ll wait til I’m 21.” … But anyway, I finally convinced my dad I was old enough to get married.

So he accepted it, and we set the date, and we got together on the anniversary an engagement dinner with my grandmother and grandfather. And we had a big dinner to celebrate our engagement on March the 28th 1945.

And then we talked over when we were going to get married, and we chose March the 2nd 1946. And then we went on our honeymoon to Washington D.C.

Well Seasoned Travelers

From that point, Grandma went straight into a 17-minute recitation of all of the places they could remember living. Even if you leave out a few brief stays in this town or that, it is an impressive list. When Grandma passed in 2017, I celebrated her in “When Grandma Played the Organ,” where I said:

“All I knew when I was a kid was that seeing Grandma and Grandpa Clark was an adventure. They always had a new house in a new place, or if they were between houses, they would have a different motorhome or trailer to live in. As we got older, we learned what they meant by “disability” and “fixed income” when they talked with the other adults at dinner.

“She wouldn’t complain, but sometimes we could tell that all of the moving around was hard on her. She would talk about finding a church home, putting down roots, and having a house she could call her own. Sometimes they even stayed on a piece of property long enough to build a house, and she could get her organ out of storage and set it up in her living room. I particularly loved the visits when she had room for her organ because she would play and sing those old revival hymns that made such a grand first impression on the churches they visited.”

People don’t really comprehend just how much my maternal grandparents moved around in their lifetime. I know they don’t because I see their reaction when I mention even an abbreviated list of their homes. And after I transcribed their anniversary video, I have been struggling to find ways to express their seemingly constant mobility.

When she listed off the places they lived, Grandma would sometimes have to give an inexact place (if they were living in their mobile home) or list several places they lived within one town in one year. Still, even leaving out a few details, I count 36 moves between their wedding and their 44th anniversary. Here is a map I made to try to wrap my head around it all:

A Larger Project for the Future

Someday, I’d like to re-edit the anniversary video and share it here. But while it is a precious thing for the family, it wasn’t meant for a wide audience, and I intend to respect that. There is a lot of information about my living aunts, uncles, and cousins that doesn’t need to be shared online, and the 1990 technology it was recorded on doesn’t do a good job of showing the photos and documents Grandma and Grandpa held up to the camera as they spoke. I suspect some modern editing (and a lot of time!) will make their story more presentable for future generations.

So, for now, I have this map, a lot of photos to hunt down, and some goals!