( A Tribute to Rachel Bouldin Clifton (1925-1987), her song for Wallace/ “The Family Circle is Broken,” and her Sand Mountain home)
Rachel Lenora Bouldin was born July 5th, 1925, to John Noble Bouldin and Vernia Monroe Bouldin in DeKalb County, Alabama. She was the only daughter to be born after four sons. Wallace, the youngest son, was seven. Rachel spent her girlish days helping “Mama” with the
Photo of Rachel was with Wallace in Italy,1944. Though he was killed, the photo survived the fatal shell which burst at his side.
household chores, going to school, going to Warren’s Graveyard Baptist Church (Nazareth) and taking water to the cotton fields where her Dad and brothers were working. Many evenings were spent ‘making music’ with brothers Arvel, L.B.(Pete), Chester (Check), and her nearest sibling…Wallace. She played the guitar….the ’boys’ played the guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and banjo. Together they made music and sang the spirited gospel and country songs of their southern heritage. Many weekends, she and the brothers were joined by Charlie and Ira Louvin from the Big Woods in Dekalb County (Henagar). Together they sang and filled the Saturday nights with marvelous mountain music. But in the early 1940s, mountain music was replaced by the sounds of World War 11. All four brothers left their peaceful rural Sand Mountain for places far away. But only three returned. Baby brother, Wallace, at twenty-three was killed in Italy on September 27, 1944 when a shell burst at his side. He came home in a flag-draped box marked ’do not open.’ Rachel was sixteen. Part of the heartbreak was knowing her brother’s mangled body may not have been in the box they buried. The explosion was so massive. “How could they know,” she said, “which parts belonged to whom.” But they buried the remains with all love and humility…. “knowing,” she said, “that where ever his flesh may have been sent, another family would honor him in burial with the same love and humility. Out of her heartbreak, she wrote the following lyrics and sang them both mournfully and joyfully.
The Family Circle is Broken
Here our family circle is broken. We’ve lost a dear brother and son.
I trust we’ll meet again someday, When all of life’s troubles are done.
They took him away to that awful war, To ‘fight for his country’ they said.
Then one day a message came, Saying my brother was ‘dead.’
There’ll be no more wars in Heaven. There’ll be no bombing there.
No more sleeping in foxholes, In the city God’s gone to prepare.
There’ll be no more shells thrown in Heaven, To burst at our loved one’s side.
No goodbyes or heartaches, No more troop trains to ride.
How lonely we all were that evening, How lonesome that train whistle blew,
Carrying the body of my brother, Neath the flag of the red, white, and blue.
But how happy we’ll all be in Heaven, When round God’s throne we shall meet.
And we’ll be shouting and singing, When our circle once more is complete.
Rachel Bouldin
During her teenage years she met a kind and strikingly handsome local boy named Warren Calvin Clifton. He had Randolp County, Alabama, and Heard County, Georgia, roots. Their marriage was like the ‘perfect storm.’ They loved and respected each other with a union of the God-kind. Three daughters were born to them…Linda Gail, Carolyn Ann, and Katherine Sue. The daughters were not aware of the hard times during the family’s early years. They knew only the kindness and gentle nurturing from the parents whose love was so deep…and who daily were raising them in the ‘nurture and admonition of the Lord.’ In later years, Calvin, with Rachel at his side, began what would be fifteen years of a successful business franchise called the Royal Auto. Though they lived mere walking distance from the business, Rachel often felt torn between her heart-felt need to be Calvin’s ‘help-meet’ and her need to fully ‘mother.’ Due to her humility, she couldn’t see that she was indeed both the perfect wife and the perfect mother. Both husband and daughters often called her ‘blessed.’ And her musical talents which could no longer be practiced with her brothers, found a new avenue. She, Linda, and Carolyn became the Clifton Trio. The youngest, Katherine, in the early years was much too shy to perform. But today, ‘Cathy’ uses her beautiful anointed voice to sing often for female inmates to which she ministers. Rachel’s talents could have taken other directions but she chose the be fully wife, fully mother, and servant of the Lord.
In her late teens, while performing on a local high school stage during a country music festival, a man seated in the front row rose….came onto the stage and approached her. Ernest Tubb reached for her guitar while handing his to her..and said, “Let me hear what you sound like with a real guitar.” Afterwards he said to her, “You can perform on my show anytime you chose.” She never ‘chose’ to perform. The days of the Bouldin Family Band being heard on Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Fort Payne, Alabama radio programs were done.
Rachel died on January 7th, 1987, after a two-year terminal illness. Arvel, the oldest brother, had buried three brothers and now…baby sister, Rachel. During the illness she remained at home with twenty-four hour nursing care and managed her household from a hospital bed and a reclined chair in the family room . Calvin appeared before her each morning for a much needed ‘matching tie check’ from Rachel before going to his newspaper job as Managing Editor of the Sand Mountain News (later the masthead changed to The Weekly Post) …which he began after selling the Royal Auto. A smile and ‘no’ head shake from Rachel meant ’no…won’t do…find another.’ After Rachel’s illness and death, her daughters and her Calvin filled their hearts with the bountiful memories of her gentleness and strength. Calvin died instantly on July 4th, 2005, from a stroke….one day before Rachel’s July 5th birthday.
Linda Gail, Carolyn Ann, and Katherine Sue, along with the combined nine living grandchildren (one grandchild is deceased) and the numerous great-grandchildren visit their grave site to see the granite headstone with a large heart engraved in the middle. Inside the heart are the words “Calvin loves Rachel.’ Engraved just below the heart is their wedding date. Across the bottom of the headstone are the words Jesus spoke to the repentant thief on the adjoining cross, Luke 23:43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
The cast off bodies of Rachel, her parents, and three brothers, including Arvel, are buried at Warren’s Graveyard……a little more than a mile from the home where they were born, lived, loved, and shared their glorious mountain music. In Chattanooga, Tennessee, Pete’s wife , children and grandchildren visit his graveside and, I am sure, have thoughts which include his music, his mountain home, his brothers and Rachel. And the hope of Rachel’s song for Wallace is fulfilled……The ‘family circle’ no longer is broken.
But how happy we’ll all be in Heaven, When round God’s throne we shall meet.
And we’ll be shouting and singing, When our circle once more is complete.
I love you, Mother, with the Love of the Lord.
Carolyn Ann
