She was born Jennie Long in Allen County, Ohio sometime around 1890. I don’t know a whole lot of details about her life but I think about her often. I was just in my teens when she passed away but, especially as I grow older, I understand what a major effect she had on my life. I may have blogged about her previously – I am not sure. But I feel inspired to write about her now regardless.

She was one of the two great grandmothers who I knew. And I didn’t know the other one very well. Jennie was my maternal grandmother’s mother. I am guessing that she married when she was fairly young. She had come from a farm family but I am told that they were a “better off” farm family than most. Her groom was Victor Elza Clum who would have been a few years older than her. They were married for about 60 years until he passed away. Elza came from strong, sturdy stock – the kind that settled and developed this country. I remember him as a very big man. He farmed with horses into the 1950s. One of his ancestors (an uncle or great uncle I believe) was John Clum who was an Indian Agent and a prominent figure in “wild west” times. Some good information on John Clum can be found here: http://www.sandimasnews.com/history/30.html (He’s about as exciting as anyone in my lineage gets though I am somewhat related to Dean Jagger, and also to a B-movie actress from the sixties whose name I forget other than her first name of “Lucy.” I am also probably distantly related to Dwight Yoakam though I try not to think about that.)

Jennie was a petite woman – not so tall and quite slender -- dwarfed by husband. She was exactly how one would expect a great grandmother to be and look. She suffered from vision problems and wore glasses that had such thick lenses that they took on an amber hue. Her white hair was a bit wiry but always kept up neatly on top of her head. She had one of those “motion lamps” in her house – you know, with the picture of a train mounted to a cylinder that revolved around a light bulb. She was always very happy to turn it on for her great grandkids. The house they lived in was originally a log cabin and there were a couple of areas where you could still see the original logs, plastered and sided over many years before I came along. Their house sat back a long lane. The surrounding land was rather rolling and had a beautiful creek running through it. They raised sheep and in the Spring we would go there to see their lambs. It all looked very 23rd Psalm-ish.

They would have farmed through the depression. I am sure those were tough times but yet, in a gentle, loving and humble way, I think that Grandma Clum always brought a genteelness to farm life. Long before Martha Stewart, she always had beautiful flowers surrounding their house, kept in a natural setting rather than lined up in neat rows. Her house was decorated with lace doilies, all handmade I am sure, on every tabletop. Her kitchen was right out of the 40s. There was a basement that we were never allowed to enter, and an upstairs that we could go up to as long as we were accompanied by an adult. The upstairs held her prized possession – a beautiful old pump organ that still worked. Outside the backdoor to their house was the chicken coop where she would go and gather eggs.

She was an incredible cook, fixing the foods that would stick to your ribs after a hard day working in the field. Her special treat for us kids consisted of hot cocoa and raisin-filled sugar cookies. She always had an open Bible sitting next to her favorite chair and she’d often be found reading it. Her chair, by the way, was not some big comfy chair but instead a small straight chair with a slightly padded seat and back. She loved to write poetry and draw pencil sketches and other pictures of her favorite flowers. She signed everything quite simply with “Mother”. She covered herself in Vaseline each night – as a “preservative” I guess! She lived to be 94 as I recall so apparently that worked. She would talk about other home remedies and things that were a necessity when she was growing up. She was always the “farm wife” yet she had so many interests and loves beyond that as well. But, again, she was always humble, always quiet, always as kind, gentle and sweet as could be.

Here is one of the poems she wrote:

One day I was pondering
How good God was to me.
In my mind’s eye, I saw Him
Hanging on a tree.

Nails pierced through His hands and feet,
A crown of thorns upon His head,
And then I thought how awful
Jesus must have bled.

He hung upon that cruel cross
In agony and shame.
Men and priests passed by that way
And cursed His holy name.

Now if you are the son of God
Come down from off that tree.
Then we’ll believe your are His son
Who dies to set us free.

But Jesus stayed upon the cross
Upon that cruel tree
Until the precious plan of God
Was made at Calvary.

And then He cried “It’s finished”
And hung His head and died.
And then I thought how much He loved.
I praised Him and I cried.

And then I thought, “He is not dead.
He came out from the grave.
And now He lives within my heart
And shall be all my days.”

In addition to being a farm wife through the depression, though, she had other hardships. They lost two sons shortly after birth I believe. Their only remaining son fought in World War II. A daughter bore a child out of wedlock after an older man forced himself on her – quite a scandalous event I suspect. She watched the ravaging of her strong, healthy husband’s body due to diabetes. Both of his legs were amputated but, as testament to his remaining strength, he taught himself to walk on prosthetics, even without a cane for short distances.

But you know what I remember most about Grandma Clum? She always seemed totally at peace in her life. No one recalls ever hearing her say a bad thing about anyone, or express any discouragement or frustration. I have no doubt that, in her life, she had “her moments” but you just never saw them and she certainly wasn’t a seething mass of anger either. Regardless of the hardships and troubles she faced, she lived with peace and joy which came from within. She knew that regardless of bad things going on around her, she had her Lord and Savior. She was already spending eternity with Him. She died with a smile on her face.

One of her favorite hymns was Beulah Land. Here are the lyrics:

1. I’ve reached the land of corn and wine,
And all its riches freely mine;
Here shines undimmed one blissful day,
For all my night has passed away.

Refrain:
O Beulah Land, sweet Beulah Land,
As on thy highest mount I stand,
I look away across the sea,
Where mansions are prepared for me,
And view the shining glory shore,
My heav’n, my home forevermore!

2. My Savior comes and walks with me,
And sweet communion here have we;
He gently leads me by His hand,
For this is Heaven’s borderland.

3. A sweet perfume upon the breeze,
Is borne from ever vernal trees,
And flow’rs that never fading grow
Where streams of life forever flow.

4. The zephyrs seem to float to me,
Sweet sounds of Heaven’s melody,
As angels with the white-robed throng
Join in the sweet redemption song.

And that is truly how she lived her life.