Clara Dell Gentry Lawrence -- Master Farm Homemaker

 

Clara Gentry Lawrence

Clara Dell Gentry Lawrence was born on November 6, 1937 in Trigg County, Kentucky, the fourth of five children born to Thomas Perry Gentry and Eliza Dell Hughes Gentry.  Her father was a farmer in the Oak Grove Community of Trigg County. Her siblings included one brother, Thomas Hughes born in 1925, and three sisters, Lillian Pearl, born in 1927 and died in infancy, Rachel Louise, born in 1931 and Mary Jo, born in 1939.

Clara attended schools in Trigg County and graduated from Trigg County High School in 1956. She went to work as a secretary and bookkeeper for the John Woodruff Construction Company in Cadiz where she worked for several years.  She later began a long career with the Trigg County Clerk’s Office. She eventually left that position to work for the Barkley Lake Water District where she worked until she retired.

On May 7, 1966, Clara married Ernest Ronald Lawrence, a Trigg County native and a local farmer. Ernest was born on September 22, 1938, the son of Clarence C. Lawrence and Jettie Bleidt Lawrence.  Clara and Ernest were the parents of one child, a daughter, Clara Elizabeth, born in 1969.

Although Clara worked as a secretary and bookkeeper for several organizations for many years, she was heavily involved in the daily operation of the family farm. Her husband, Ernest, along with his brother, Robert owned over 1,600 acres in the county and leased about 1,000 more known as the Lawrence Brothers Farm.  In addition, they owned the Lawrence Brothers Tobacco Warehouse in nearby Hopkinsville.  Clara worked as the bookkeeper for the farm and the tobacco warehouse.

In addition to being involved in the daily operation of the farm businesses, she was a charter member of the Town and Country Homemakers Club, serving as both treasurer and president of the Pennyrile Area Homemakers, and was a member of Kentucky's Master Farm Homemaker Guild. She served on the Trigg County Extension District Board and County Extension Council for many years, filling various offices. Her expertise as a homemaker on the farm was recognized in 1999 when she was selected as a Kentucky Master Farm Homemaker by the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture and the Kentucky Extension Homemakers Association. This honor is bestowed upon a select group of outstanding farm women from across the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Clara was also an organizing member of the James Thomas Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution as well as serving as a charter member of the Thomas-Bridges Association, serving in all offices throughout the years.

Clara Gentry Lawrence died on January 8, 2021.  She was buried in the Lawrence Cemetery in Trigg County, Kentucky.

 Clara Lawrence

LINEAGE:  (Clara Dell Gentry Lawrence was the daughter of Thomas Perry and Eliza Dell Hughes Gentry, granddaughter of Mason Hamilton and Mattie Pearl Thomas Hughes and great-granddaughter of Wesley Gunn and Eliza Henderson Thomas. Wesley was the sixth child of Stanley and Emily Ann Light Thomas. Stanley was the second child of Starkie and Mary Bridges Thomas. Starkie was the fourth child of James Thomas and Mary Standley Thomas. Mary was the seventh child of Drury Bridges and Charity Cohoon Bridges.)