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Barium Springs: A home for many
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Published: August 23, 2009
Alice Jones Clendenin, 89, now calls Statesville Place home. She recently shared her memories of another home, one she shared with hundreds of young people years ago, the Barium Springs Home for Children.
At age 8, soon after her mother and her grandmother — victims of the 1928 influenza epidemic — passed away, she and her sister May Lyn, 6, left their home in Concord and went to the home four miles south of Statesville that was run by the Presbyterian Church.
Their father, a veteran of the Spanish-American War, had health problems and was unable to provide for his children. He later became a resident in a veterans' home in Johnson City, Tenn.
Barium Springs Home for Children would be Alice's home for the next 10 years. Soon after her arrival, she and her sister were joined by their older brother, Gordon, who was then 12.
Gordon was restless at the home and ran away at 16 and was brought back. He eventually joined the Civilian Conservation Corps and later enlisted in the Navy.
Alice didn't know what to expect at Barium, but a kind act by another young girl, who shared her roller skates with Alice, somewhat eased her fears. "I had never had skates before," she says.
Alice thought she and her sister would be in the same dormitory, called a cottage, but this was not to be. They were, however, next door to each other and saw each other at times during the day.
"Everybody had a little job to do at Barium," she recalled, "even the little children. When I was 14 or 15, my job was to help the matron with care of the babies.We helped to bathe and dress them. I spent a year at that job."
Alice also worked at various times in the dining hall and the kitchen. She remembers children stringing green beans in the summer. The Home had its own cannery and they produced much of their own food, which the girls prepared and served.
Alice told about one matron's unique method of solving a problem she had with another girl in the Howard Cottage, home for about 28 girls.
"We had some kind of a spat, I don't remember what it was about, and we had been friends before, but anyway, we were ready to fight each other. It was winter and our matron, Mrs. Verna Woods, told us to go outside and to throw snowballs at each other. And we did."
She remembers that Bible was a major subject at school.
"Everything at Barium centered around the church. They said you didn't have to go, but you'd better be there."
When Alice graduated from Barium Springs High School as a member of the Class of 1939, she was voted "Most Versatile" by her classmates.
She did some housekeeping work and then attended business school. She says that her skills at the typewriter soon landed her employment at Camp Davis, a World War II anti-aircraft training base at Holly Ridge in Onslow County. There, she met and married her first husband, David Bender, an Army corporal and native of Philadelphia. She and David had a daughter, Barbara.
She and David used to drive down to the Barium reunions every four or five years from Philadelphia. David died in 1974.
Alice's second husband was Ray Clendenin, a widower with two sons, who was also a Barium Springs alumnus, Class of 1937. Alice knew Ray when they were at Barium, but they were no more than acquaintances. Ray learned to operate the linotype machine at Barium and helped publish the school's newsletter, The Barium Messenger.
Boys at Barium had jobs, too, in the orchard, the barns, the print shop, the dairy, doing yard work and so on.
The children bonded, and the home's athletic teams were formidable opponents. If you even scored against the Barium Tornadoes, particularly in football, you knew you had a good team.
An example of the home's prowess on the gridiron can be found in the Nov. 21, 1947, Statesville Daily Record, with its sports section headline, "Greyhounds Upset Barium 7-6."
It reads, "Statesville High School's Greyhounds ended their 1947 season in a flash of glory yesterday afternoon at Barium, doing what no other Statesville team has been able to do since 1928. They beat the mighty Tornadoes, 7-6, and thus washed away all the previous sins of the season."
The paper went on to mention that 1,500 spectators had been on hand at Sloan Field in Barium to watch the contest. Barium's sports events also furnished revenue to purchase "the extras."
But back to our story. Ray and Alice met again at an alumni reunion, began to keep in touch, corresponded and wed five years after that reunion. They attended reunions together until his death in 2005.
Alice chuckles at some of the things she remembers from her youth. For instance, courting at Barium consisted largely of holding hands as students walked to their classes. Sometimes, Alice confessed, there might be a chance of a quick kiss as you walked through the underpass that went under Highway 21 that divided the campus.
"I remember that we didn't say we were dating, we said we were 'going with' so and so."
The other place for serious socializing was the Lottie Walker Cottage, which had a large meeting room and couples could meet there, in the big room, and turn their chairs toward the walls so they could talk with some privacy.
Alice played on the home's girls basketball team, but had to drop sports because it interfered with her piano lessons. Alice says she no longer plays the piano as her fingers are not as nimble as they once were and the music notes seem to be smaller now.
Friends made at Barium Springs remain friends today, although the number of her classmates has gotten smaller over the years. Alice had been a regular at the reunions, one of which was held the first weekend in August, but she didn't attend this year.
Some classes, she noted, hold mini-reunions every few months. She frequently writes and calls former Barium friends. She still has her 1939 annual, as well as a book of newspaper clippings about the home and school.
She fondly remembers Mr. Joseph B. Johnston, who was superintendent of the home for 27 years, from 1922 to 1949.
Alice referred to Johnston as "a great guy." She remembers Johnston saying, "When you leave this place you don't need to pay anybody back for anything, any more than you would owe your parents. All you owe us is respect."
"Mr. Johnston was a good man and I'll never forget him. He once said that it would break his heart if he thought we would ever pass by a needy child without trying to help. He loved children so much."
She continued: "Life goes on. When I look back on my life, I think an angel arranged for me to go to Barium."
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