Children of Maynard French Clover

Maynard French⁵ Clover (Lot⁴ John Metler³, Paul², John Peter¹ Clover)

Clover Family Exchange Vol. 6 Issue 3 March 1993, pages 3-6
Obituaries of the family of Maynard French Clover
They were orginally contributed by Edus Snyder

Bessie R. Kirk
(1893 – 1992)

    McAllen, Texas – Bessie R. Kirk, 99, died February 28, 1992 at Twinbrook South Nursing Home in McAllen, TX.
    Kirk, a longtime nurse, had worked for hospitals from McAllen to Harlingen in the valley, doing private and general duty. She taught student nurses in the Edinburg, McAllen, and Valley Baptist Hospitals, and was an Instructor of Nurses for five years at Methodist Hospital in Dallas. She also helped to organize the first nursing organization in the valley. She retired from nursing in 1964.
    Survivors include Cora Simon (sister) of Laguna Niguel, CA; local nieces and nephews Edna Johnson of Alamo; Gladys Nelson of McAllen and Joe George of San Juan; and numerous other nieces and nephews.
    Graveside services are scheduled for Wednesday, 10 a.m. at Roselawn Cemetery in McAllen.

Elzada Clover
(1896 – 1980)

(This memorial appeared in the Ann Arbor News, Ann Arbor, Michigan on December 14, 1980. It was written by Jane Myers, once a botany student of Dr. Clover. Elzada Clover was born in 1896 and died in November of 1980).
        “In every person’s educational career, there are one or two or three teachers who stand out above all the others. Ten or Twenty years afterwards, most of the classrooms one ever sat in become a merciful blur of dull reflections. But a handful of them are a clear compelling memory.”
        “There’s no one way to account for those qualities in a teacher that cause him or her to remain vibrant and real in a student’s memory, even many years later.”
        "Sometimes it is a teacher’s ability to do that thing called ‘teaching’ – to build that mysterious bridge from one mind to another that allows a young person to share and adult’s appreciation for and understanding of some area of human knowledge. Sometimes it is the sheer force of the teacher’s love for the subject. And sometimes it’s the intriguing appeal of a teacher’s personality in all its weird and wonderful uniqueness.
        Elzada Clover, who died last month in Texas at the age of 83, was that kind of teacher, probably for all those reasons. ‘Clover then joined the Michigan faculty, rising through the ranks to become curator in the Botanical Gardens in 1957 and professor of botany in 1960. She helped to establish the cactus and succulent collection at the Botanical Gardens and also taught at the U – M Biological Station in Pellston, MI’.

“Thus do obituaries read, and thus do they leave out the important parts of the story.”
        “When I think of Elzada Clover, I see in my mind’s eye a kind of marvelous white – haired Amazonian woman, large and confident and proud, winging her way through the flora of the world, observing it, digging it up, planting more of it, cataloging it and taking an absolute sublime pleasure in the fun of it all, but exhibiting little of that inner pleasure to the world.”
    "I just never had time to get married,’ she said once, laughing at the thought. I don’t remember asking, but I imagine that I and a fellow botany student must have asked her why she wasn’t. The answer seems so obvious in retrospect that I don’t know why we asked, except that those were the 50s when women were suppose to get married.
    “It was the summer of 1959 and I was Dr. Clover’s field assistant at the U – M Biological Station.” The term ‘assistant’ was a bit of a misnomer when applied to that relationship in regard to her, however.
    One did not ‘assist’ Elzada Clover. One tried to keep up with her. In the process, I acquired Pneumonitis and Poison Ivy, but the possibility of admitting defeat, even in the face of imminent physical collapse, did not exist in such company.
    One weekend that summer, we set out for the Garden Peninsula, a little piece of the land jutting out into Lake Michigan just west of Manistique. I remember that we dined at a little restaurant in Garden, but I don’t remember what plants we were seeking, or if we found them.
    What I do remember is the thrill of riding in a car with Elzada Clover at the wheel. It was her tendency to exactly straddle the centerline of a narrow country road, thus affording her a better view of the plants on both sides of the road. If you were the passenger this could be very exciting since your attention was likely to be diverted by oncoming traffic or the prospect of it at the same time that Dr. Clover’s attention was being diverted by a beautiful Rudbeckia (black-eyed Susan to most of the world) or any one of hundreds of other specimens. If she found one that looked exceptional, she’d make a quick U-turn and go back to take a picture of it. To this day I wonder where the giant mullein went, the one we turned back to find, the one we went up and down the road six or eight times to find, the one we never found again.
    The most revealing anecdote I can ever remember her telling had to do with eating peyote and then experiencing dreams in color.
    “But she had an intense, consuming interest in plants and she conveyed that interest with remarkable intensity. She was a good teacher. I can’t think of a higher compliment or a finer epitaph.”

Maynard F. Clover, Jr.
(1898 – 1990)

    Maynard F. Clover, son of Maynard and Sarah Gates Clover, was born July 13, 1898 on a farm northwest of Auburn, Nebraska. He was one of nine children.
    He received his education at Linden rural school near his home and he attended Peru Normal School at Peru, NE.
    September 3, 1919 he was united in marriage to Minnie Jeanneret at the United Methodist Church in Auburn, Nebraska. To this marriage, three children were born.
    After their marriage, Maynard and his wife farmed in the Glenrock community northwest of Auburn. In 1950, they moved to a farm west of Nemaha. In 1986, they moved and retired to Auburn. Besides farming, Maynard worked the remainder of his active life for the A.S.C. office and spent 20 years with the Soil Conservation Service.
    Maynard enjoyed his work and also liked to hunt and fish.
    Due to failing health, he was a resident of the Good Samaritan Center in Auburn at various times during his last two years. On December 6, 1990, he was admitted to the Nemaha County Hospital in Auburn. It was there that he passed away on December 7, 1990, having reached the age of 92 years, 3 months and 24 days.
    He was preceded in death by his parents, one brother, and five sisters.
    The Service of Memory was held for Maynard F. Clover at the Casey Witzenburg Chapel in Auburn, NE on Tuesday, December 11, 1990 at 2 p.m. Interment was in the Sheridan Cemetery in Auburn. Pallbearers were Marvin Caspers, Fred Gauchat, Ed Hartwig, Paul Jeanneret, Marvin Jeanneret, and Clarence Jeanneret.
    Maynard’s daughter, Edus Clover Snider, writes concerning her parents:
    “Dad had circulation problems and had to have his right leg amputated between the knee and the hip about 2 years before he died. He had several strokes leaving his left leg and arm paralyzed. About a week before his death he had to have the left leg amputated, then developed pneumonia. His first stroke was in the first part of 1986 so it was a long five years for him. He couldn’t talk after that but understood everything and his mind was good until the end.”
    “My mother (Minnie Jeanneret Clover) is 94 years old and will be 95 in July (of 1993). She is still living alone in Auburn, NE. She also drives her car. Everyone thinks she is an amazing person. She had a heart valve replaced when she was 90 and came through it well.”
Ruby M. Brorkens, daughter of John M. Brorkens and Katherine (Walker) Brorkns, was born on December 1, 1919 in Brock, NE. She was one of five children born to this union.

Information on his son from Edus Clover:
Glen Clover was the son of Maynard F. Clover, Jr. Ruby was raised in Brock, NE. She was united in marriage to Glen Clover on October 21, 1941 in Rock Port, MO. To this marriage one son, Dale, was born.
        Ruby and Glen moved to Auburn [Nebraska] in 1945. She was very active in the Auburn Christian Church, the Gleaners, and the American Legion Auxiliary. She worked as the Clerk of the District Court for more than twenty years. Ruby loved to bake, take walks, and was an avid reader.
        After many years as Auburn resident Ruby and her husband Glen moved to Louisville, KY to be closer to their son Dale. It is there that on Tuesday, February 1, 2011, due to ongoing illness, Ruby passed away. She had reached the age of 91 years and 2 months. She was preceded in death by her parents, one brother, one half brother, two sisters, and her husband Glen in 2007.
        She is survived by her son Dale Clover and wife Linda of Louisville, KY; grandchildren Lisa Reeves and husband Ron of Louisville, KY; Brian Clover and wife Rachel of Louisville, KY; seven great-grand children, one sister ,Mildred Marshall of Brock, NE; one brother John Brorkens and wife Faye of Pocatello, ID; nieces, nephews, and other relatives and friends.
          Services were held Saturday, February 5, 2011 at the Auburn Christian Church, with interment at the Sheridan Cemetery, Auburn, Nebraska.

Following is what Edus Snyder wrote up for notes for her in the family history:
        Ruby grew up in Brock, Nebraska and received her education in the Brock Public School System. She graduated from high school in 1938 and worked in Auburn, Nebraska until she and Glen were married on October 21, 1941. Glen left for the army the next day. During World War II, she worked at the Martin Bomber Plant in Omaha, Nebraska helping to build bomber planes for the war. The Enola Gay that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima was built at this plant.
        After Glen’s discharge from the army in September of 1945, they purchased a home in Auburn and lived in that same home until October, 2006. Ruby worked in the Nemaha County Clerk’s office in the county courthouse for many years. She worked under three county clerks, including twice as the deputy clerk. After leaving the County Clerk’s office, she was a bookkeeper at the Auburn State Bank for two years. She then decided to run for the office of the Clerk of the District Court of Nemaha County and won the election. She served in this office for the next twenty years before retiring in January 1987.
        After retiring, she and a friend took long, early morning walks. She loved to bake and would send baked goods to Dale and his family. She was an avid reader and was always interested in what was happening in the area and the rest of the country. She was an active member of the Auburn Christian Church, the Gleaners, and the American Legion Auxiliary.
        Due to poor health, Ruby and Glen moved to Louisville, KY in October of 2006 to be near their son, Dale and family. Not long after Glen’s death in December of 2007, Ruby moved from their assisted living quarters to a higher level of care at the same place. She later moved to Oaklawn Health Care in Louisville and passed away there on February 1, 2001.
         Ruby was preceded in death by her parents, John and Katherine (Kate) Brorkens, a brother, a half brother, two sisters, Margaret McKenny, Ruth Jeanneret, and husband, Glen. She is survived by her son, Dale Clover and wife Linda; grandchildren Lisa Reeves and husband Ron; Brian Clover and wife Rachel; seven great-grand children all of Louisville, KY; one sister Mildred Marshall, Tecumseh, Nebraska, formerly of Brock, NE; one brother, John Brorkens and wife Faye of Pocatello, ID; a sister-in-law, Edus Snyder of Nebraska City, NE., and many nieces, nephews and other relatives and friends.
        Funeral services were held at the Christian Church, Auburn, Nebraska on February 5, 2011 with the Rev. Frank Zimmerman officiating. Burial was in the Sheridan Cemetery at Auburn.