A Special Blessing with Loving Needs

by Rita Bennett

Iwas the last born into a family of eleven children on a rural farm in Hamilton County. In the early 1900s, we were considered a poor family, according to financial value, but rich in a large, loving family. Our father was a very hard worker and stern parent, our mother was a Christian loving homemaker. Our father worked at public works and retired after twenty-eight years but farmed and grew the food needed for his family also.

My family consisted of seven boys and four girls. The tenth of the family, a boy named Clyde, was a special child with Down’s Syndrome. By this time in life, both of our parents were up in years, so I don’t know if they felt the need for another child or if it was God’s will for one more. In 1936, I came along as our mother had reached her forty-fifth year.

Clyde and I were very close, and I felt he needed me to be his guiding hand and help him to develop. All our other brothers and sisters were busy starting their own lives, and our parents had their hands full providing for the ones still at home.

When Clyde reached his eighth birthday, the Hamilton County Board of Education notified our parents as to why Clyde was not registered in public school. There were no special education schools in the 1930s and 1940s. My parents visited the then principal of Snow Hill Elementary School and made him aware of Clyde’s situation. They asked if it would be possible—since I was only five years of age—if I could attend school early to watch over Clyde?

He agreed I could start early. Clyde and I attended elementary school for six years together, Clyde being passed on condition, not having higher learning capabilities. He was taken out of school, and our mother and I taught him as much as his mind could achieve. Clyde was exceptionally good at learning all common knowledge, but he never did understand why he could not attend what he called “Big School” with me.

Our mother was a devout Christian, she read the Bible aloud to us daily, and we were very attentive to all the stories. And to this day, in my eighty-six years of life, I understand God’s word better when it is read aloud.

I graduated from school in 1953 and had met my future husband. We were married and soon to start our family. Clyde was still a huge part of my life and he really liked my husband. Our mother became ill with cancer in 1960, very shortly after my son was born. We remained with my parents, caring for my mother until she went home to Heaven in June 1962.

Shortly thereafter my husband and I purchased a home in Ooltewah in 1963 and moved. Dad and Clyde remained in the homeplace. They were able to care for each other until 1966 when our father became ill. We brought both of them into our home. My daughter and son grew to love Clyde, and he loved them, and they grew to be adults with him. All was going well until February 9, 1967, when I went to awaken our father, and he had passed away in his sleep.

Clyde remained with us. There was a feed store located two blocks away, and he was allowed to walk and visit there often. They loved him and gave him a little job (not a payroll employee) for tips. He carried out bags of feed—going by the pictures on the bag—and bales of hay, but someone had to oversee the amount the customer bought. He stayed at this feed store through three owners and eighteen years when the store closed. Clyde attended our church Ooltewah Baptist from 1970 forward. He loved his Jesus and wanted everyone to know his Jesus. His health stayed fairly normal until mid-1994. He began having balance difficulties, hearing loss, and dental problems. He then became very confused and wheel-chair bound. God called him home on Christmas Eve at 8 p.m. 1995, at the age of sixty-two-anda-half years old.

About The Author Rita Bennett is eighty-six and lives in Ooltewah, Tennessee.

Faith Haven is an accredited, independent, non-denominational Christian school serving grades PreK through fifth grade. Our mission is to foster a safe and encouraging environment—an atmosphere that enhances the holistic growth of students: intellectual, physical, artistic, and spiritual.