THE PREACHER’S BOY AND THE FARMER’S DAUGHTER
CLYDE AND MARY JANE, 1939.
Fools Rush in (Where Angels Fear to Tread)
— JOHNNY MERCER & RUBE BLOOM, 1940
In May 1940, Gary Cooper, Ginger Rogers and Mickey Rooney graced the covers of movie magazines; Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of Great Britain and in a tiny town in Montana, Clyde and Mary Jane Walden got married. Seven decades later, they’re still smiling.
The couple met while attending high school in Montour, Idaho. “It was a very small school,” said Mary Jane. “There were only eight in my graduating class.” The close knit group put on a lot of plays during the year, and Clyde and Mary Jane got to know each other during the hours spent rehearsing and performing.
Clyde’s father, a minister, had come to build a church in a neighboring town. Mary Jane’s father, a farmer, didn’t consider the ministry a “real job.” As Clyde recalled, “Her dad said, ‘Don’t go out with that guy, ‘cause he’s a preacher’s son.’” But the preacher’s boy had already figured out how to win the approval of the industrious farmer. “I hired on to help him work during the harvest,” Clyde said. “When he saw how hard I worked, he never said another word.”
When Clyde’s family moved to Montana, the couple kept in touch through letters. Mary Jane said, “No phone calls—the party line invaded our privacy!” As Clyde prepared for high school graduation, his sister, Ruth, drove to Montour and picked up Mary Jane so she could attend the ceremony. “Two days after his graduation he asked me to marry him,” said Mary Jane.
The next day, under an arch of wild-flowers she and Ruth had gathered, Clyde and Mary Jane were married in his parents’ living room. The quick wedding made sense to the couple. “We’d gone together for over two years,” said Mary Jane, plus she didn’t have a way to get back to Idaho. And the morning of the wedding, Clyde made sure their plans were approved by her father—he sent him a telegram requesting permission to marry. Her father telegraphed this reply: “Yes. Letter following. Love and good luck.” He’d already told his daughter, “If you marry, you marry for life. You don’t leave Clyde.”
WALDEN WEDDING PHOTO, MAY 24, 1940.
Their honeymoon consisted of a day-long hike in the nearby Mission Mountains—with Clyde’s parents. Mary Jane said, “It was a beautiful day, but oh the ticks we brought back!”
Clyde worked six days a week at a hardware store, earning $45 a month for his labor. “It was hard,” he admitted. “No money in those days.” Mary Jane agreed. “We saved up all week to buy hamburger. It cost .25 for three pounds.” In 1941, they welcomed their first daughter, Barbara. Mary Jane loved being a mother. “Oh, it was so fun!” she said.
Tired of the low wages at the hardware store, Clyde went to work as a fireman for Northern Pacific Railroad. He spent hours each day shoveling coal to keep the engine going, but the pay made the hard work worth it. “We were in hog heaven,” he said. “It was a wonderful time. We lived it up because we hadn’t had anything in so long.” Often, he’d return late at night. They had no car so he’d walk from the depot to their home. “Some nights, he fell asleep on his feet and stumbled off the side of the road.” Mary Jane said.
With World War II raging, Clyde tried to enlist in the military, but many railroad employees were considered essential civilian workers. “They told me they’d call me when they wanted me,” he said, and shrugged.
Another daughter joined the family in 1944 and when she was 11 months old, Uncle Sam finally called. At 24, Clyde left his wife and daughters and traveled to Texas for training. Mary Jane said, “They recognized leadership quality in him and sent him to OTS (Officer Training School).”
The separation proved difficult for both of them. Missing her husband, Mary Jane and her oldest daughter traveled three days by train to Texas, leaving the baby home with family. “Clyde was on base and they wouldn’t let him off, but he slipped out to meet me at the hotel. He was only there long enough to say hello, before he had to get back to base,” she said. The planned short visit stretched into an entire summer. “Clyde really wanted me to stay.” A local radio station was giving air time to military wives, so she went to the station and asked for a place to stay where she could be near her husband. A woman called with an offer of a room for Mary Jane and her three-year-old daughter.
In September they returned home and Clyde traveled to his next posting. He found military life rewarding. “I enjoyed training the troops very much,” he said. However, during his service he witnessed a lot of racial tension—especially in Alabama and Georgia. “It was really hard on me,” the Northwest native admitted. Mary Jane nodded, “It was a different world down there.” Though he planned to continue his service, thirty days before he and his men were to be sent overseas, the war ended and instead of going overseas, he returned to Montana.
CLYDE WALDEN, TEXAS, 1945.
Like his father, Clyde decided to enter the ministry and even attended the same Bible College. After ordination, the family moved to Hungry Horse, Montana, to start a church. “It was just a wilderness,” Clyde recalled. He built a little cabin for his family and later built a church on a hilltop. At his next church there was no parsonage, so the family lived in the church basement until Clyde built them a home.
For more than 20 years he pastored churches throughout the state. In 1953, a third daughter, Bonnie, completed the family. Mary Jane admitted, “There were times it was difficult raising three preacher’s daughters.” Eventually, years of caring for the needs of others affected Clyde’s physical and emotional health. “His health broke—his nerves followed,” said Mary Jane.
His brother lived in Seattle, and Clyde decided it was time to change both his career and his location. For the next 31 years he worked as a finish carpenter for Group Health, finally retiring at age 70. “I planned to retire at 65, but they talked me out of it,” he said, and laughed. “They wouldn’t let me go!”
CLYDE AND MARY JANE, 1945.
His steady faithfulness shone at home, as well. Twenty years ago, when Mary Jane battled colon cancer, Clyde was by her side caring for her. As the cancer spread, Mary Jane said, “The doctor had given me up, but Clyde didn’t. He prayed for me and the Lord healed me.” He also devotedly cared for her when she suffered a stroke 14 years ago.
As they talked about their seven decades of marriage, they shared their strategy for dealing with disagreements. “We talked our way through it and then didn’t bring it up again the next day,” said Clyde. Then he reached over and patted his wife’s hand, “She’s the best wife I could have chosen. I’ve enjoyed all our years together.”
“Really the very best way to have a happy marriage is to put the Lord first in your life.”—Clyde Walden
CLYDE AND MARY JANE WALDEN, 2010.
Photo courtesy Dan Pelle, Spokesman Review
Mary Jane Walden died May 4, 2013