Clara Hairston Kimbrough

1898 – 1972

Clara Hairston Kimbrough did not complete high school, and occasionally did “days work”, cleaning houses.  She cooked soulful and comforting meals and, like many women of her era, Clara always wore an apron in the kitchen.  She served chicken every Sunday, and her pies were good, as were her potato salad, candied sweet potatoes, and fresh homemade biscuits.

My mother remembers her mother as a jovial woman, spending lots of time on the telephone, enjoying the company of her many friends.  Lonnie Neal was a close neighbor and Essie Mae Williamson was, perhaps, one of Clara’s closest friends.  Clara Hairston played the “numbers” from Henry McGuire.

Clara was Methodist before becoming a member of the family church – New Hope Baptist.  She was the Treasurer of the Missionary Society and is said to have, on occasion, spent the church’s money on the purchase of her favorite hat.  Come time for the church to use the money Clara was holding, she’d come to her daughter, Clara (my mother), for the funds to replenish the church treasury.