The youngest of Arthur McClain’s siblings was Clara Belle McClain, born in 1893.

In 1926, Clara married Bruce Willis (no, not that Bruce Willis [the movie actor], silly—he wasn’t even born yet). They lived briefly in Washington, but soon settled in the Salem area. I suspect the above photos were taken when Aunt Clara was still single, so I have somewhat arbitrarily attached the date 1925 to them. But that is just a wild guess. She would have been 32 that year.

If I am remembering correctly what Aunt Betty told me at one point, Aunt Clara was the dominant force behind the extended McClain family Thanksgiving dinners that were held for many years and ended when I was a small child. (I think I barely remember one or maybe two of them.)

Mom’s “adult” caption covering both of these photos is just “Clara McClain Willis.” But Mom’s earlier “teen” captions, which are faint to the point of not being fully decipherable, may reveal some nicknames that Aunt Clara had. Here is the best I could do with those captions, using blue light, which seemed to bring them out the best:

You’ll have to click on the above image to expand it so you can see the faint captions (as well as they can be seen). The best I can do with the caption on the left is “Aunt Coddy” (which is under the first photo above).

The caption on the right (which is even fainter, as you can see), appears to be either “Peggy” or “Puggy” enclosed in single quotes (‘’). Could it have some connection with the umbrella she is holding or the hat she is wearing in the photo?

Aunt Clara passed away in 1975. She is buried in City View Cemetery in Salem, I think beside her husband Bruce, who passed away in 1967.