Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 7 · column 5 of 8 · from the scan, no model involved
By CATHERINE KILEY
R*ppahann<H k News Special Writer
Clarence Dealing lives in Blacksburg, the colored community of Washington, Virginia, all his life. Born in 1X99, he had four sisters and two brothers. His parents died when he was young. “That left my uncle to raise us, and I was put out to a man named Frank Jones. He had two kids, so 1 tookin care of them. Got $5.00 a month. They supposed to furnish my clothes, thin overhalls and old brogans. I had it rough in my day.”
Clarence was my friend and a respected man among the people of Washington who knew him. “A big strappin fellow,” as he said of himself, I knew him with a shock of white hair and a kind, Finely etched face. His hands were large even for his tall frame, capable and precise. He walked with an ungainly gait due to a bad knee that caused him much pain, but he always had a smile for everyone.
1 met Clarence while searching out tales of Rappahannock’s history among the senior citizens who at that time met for lunches at the Hampton Inn. Much can be learned from these fine people who have seen the county change and grow through the years. But this is the story of Clarence Dearing as he told it to me on the porch of his home in the summer of 1979.
“Just the time has brought about a whole lot of different things for me.”
After five years of working as a houseboy, he traveled to West Virginia and w’orked as a dirt stripper. He never had a problem getting a job, and as a young man, worked in the steel mills of Pennsylvania, the sand mines of Ohio, and unloading oil in Canton, Ohio. He had plenty of money and
72.1%