Bettye Willis McClellan

By Anne Shannon (McClellan) Williams, 2007:

Bettye Willis McClellan was born in Lexington KY April 18, 1931. She died Aug 6, 1931. The septum in her heart did not close at birth. This problem can be solved easily now but then all they could tell Mother to do was not to let her cry. I was only three but I remember Mother walking the floor with her to keep her from crying. I also remember Daddy crying at the funeral because I didn't know until then that fathers cried.

One side note about all of this. That summer, Daddy was building a dam up in eastern KY. He would go one day, work, spend the night, work the next day and come home to spend the night. I don't know how long this went on but he was away when she died. To add to his problems, the dam washed out that day too. The trip must have been terrible in the best of circumstances since the roads then weren't too good. I don't really know how long they went through this trial but have often thought how hard it must have been for both of them. Mother was 29 at the time and Daddy 28.

Of course I had questions like would Bettye get to go to Jesus' birthday party at Christmas. Mother did tell me though that she was always grateful that it was Bettye who died and not me because she had had me three years but didn't have time to get to know Bettye as well.