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Published by www.EPlusPromotes.com www.TheCatoctinBanner.com The Catoctin Banner Newspaper November 2018 Page 17

Thurmont’s Mother Clarke — Continued from page 1

donated to Veteran’s hospitals. At nearly eighty years of age, she was feted
at the Thurmont American Legion, where tributes came in from around the
country, including from many Veterans whose lives she had touched while
they were hospitalized. She was remembered for her many acts of kindness
shown to the servicemen, and as the Vietnam war grew more intense, she was
kept busy visiting the hospital wards and providing the Veterans with little
pleasures that only a mother would consider. Her work, which she considered
a mere pleasure, won her the respect and admiration of the entire community,
as well as thousands of servicemen throughout the country.
In 1983, two years had passed since she had seen any of “her boys.” That
year, she received a letter from President Ronald Reagan, thanking her for
thirty-eight years of devotion to servicemen. This was not her first letter
from a president. She also received notes from Presidents Kennedy, Johnson,
Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Eisenhower, and was recognized by national
publications such as Samaritan of the Year. She received citations from
Francis Cardinal Spellman and Pope Pius XII, who also had an interest in
servicemen.
None of that fame changed her personality. She was a simple country
woman, proud to be Mother Clarke to men and women in uniform and
preferred if she could remain anonymous. She was always a good mother to
her children: Charles, Jr., Jerome, Kate, Mary, Ellie, Pat, Rose, Joe, Mike,
Paul, Ronnie, and Francis (in no particular order). Their last child was born
when Rose was forty-five and Jerry was sixty. Many in the community may
have known one or more of them. (Special thanks to Mike for naming his
siblings.)
Rose’s last public appearance was at the change of command at Fort
Detrick in June 1985. She died April 22, 1987, at age ninety-one and was
survived by ten of her children and forty-eight grandchildren. Her son, Paul,
compiled a book entitled Memories of Mother Clarke, The Veteran’s Mother
in 1985. It may be viewed in the archives at the Thurmont Regional Library.

Note: Some information was excerpted from Gateway to the Mountains by
George Wireman, . . . All Our Yesterdays by John Ashbury, and The Veteran’s
Mother by Paul Clarke, 1985.

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