CLARK, NINA (SCOTT) AND KEN

by Nina (Scott) Clark

Entry F72 from the History of Hooker County Nebraska
with permission of the Hooker County Historical Society

Standing L to R - Timothy Allan Clark,
Janet Louisa Clark; Seated - Kenneth Wayne
Clark, Nina Louise (Scott) Clark

A little red-haired girl was born on
Date-xxx, at the hospital in Sutherland,
Nebraska, to David and Zelma (Barnebey)
Scott. David was the Methodist minister in
nearby Paxton at the time. Nina Louise was
named after her grandmother, Nina Florence
(Garrett) Barnebey, who lived in Mullen.
David was hoping for a son, since he had two
daughters by his first wife before she died,
Annabelle and Martha (married Wayne
Osborne) . The telegram announcing Nina's
birth to Grandpa and Grandma Barnebey
said, ``JUNIOR IS SEVEN POUND GIRL
BORN FOUR PM SUNDAY BOTH FINE.''

Nina was about four months old at the time
of her first visit to Mullen. During her
childhood the family moved around the state
where her father, David, served a number of
Methodist churches, until settling in Mullen
in 1958 following his retirement. David's
relatives lived in Ireland, and the extended
family on her mother Zelma's side were
mostly located in the Sandhills, so vacation
times were usually spent in Mullen. When she
was about a year and a half old, Nina came
down with the red measles while visiting at
her grandparent's home. Dr. D.A. Walker,
who was the physician in Mullen at the time,
insisted that she remain in Mullen until she
was well, so she and her mother got an
extended visit. She always enjoyed playing in
the Sandhills sand, and on many occasions
there was a trunkload of it went home for the
sandbox because there wasn't any finer could
be obtained anywhere, as far as she was
concerned.

Nina's grandfather, Charlie Barnebey,
began to challenge her vocabulary at a very
early age. He delighted in teaching her the
botanical names of the flowers in his garden,
because he thought it was so much fun to hear
her say things like ``salpiglossis.'' He also
spent hours teaching Nina to carefully color
inside the lines of her coloring book pages.
During the years when Charlie was custodian
at the Mullen grade school, Nina liked to go
with him when he spent summer days doing
repair work in the classrooms. It was great fun
to ``play school'' and write on the blackboards
while Grandpa hummed his way through his
work. Also during frequent visits to Mullen,
and more often after the family moved to
Mullen, Nina eagerly accompanied her favor-
ite ``Auntie'' Ruth Barnebey on many arrow-
head hunts. It was always fun too, as a little
girl, to go with Ruth to the courthouse and
play ``office'' while Auntie worked.

The Scotts moved their trailer house to
Charlie Barnebey's yard in 1958, and Nina
finished the last three years of high school in
Mullen, graduating as class salutatorian in
1961. she had joined the Methodist Church
at an early age, and was an active member
during her years in Mullen. Having learned
to play the piano as a child, she began playing
organ when she entered high school, and she
served as church organist and also accompa-
nist for youth group meetings and children's
Sunday school. She held offices in the
Methodist Youth Fellowship and helped her
Aunt Ruth with the preschool Sunday school
class.

Nina attended two years of college at
Nebraska Weslyan University in Lincoln.
During the summer break, she returned to
Mullen and worked as a dental assistant for
Dr. Earl Walker. It was at this time that she
was inspired to become a dental hygienist.
She attended the University of Missouri at
Kansas City Dental School, and at that time
met her husband, Kenneth Clark, who was
studying to become a minister at the St. Paul
School of Theology, Methodist.

Nina remembers one trip she and Ken
made to Mullen before they were married.
The family was invited to the Roy and Iva
McCully ranch where Ken (a native Califor-
nian) could see what Sandhills country living
was really like. McCully's suggested that
Nina and Ken take a drive out to the top of
a hill where there was a good look-out spot.
Nina's dad, thinking these two unmarried
young folks would surely need a chaperon,
insisted on going along. As you might know,
they got the car stuck in the sand, thus
confirming in his mind that ``Father knows
best.''

Ken and Nina were married at the Method-
ist Church in Mullen on December 20, 1964,
with the bride's father, the Reverand David
Scott, and local minister, the Reverand J.B.
Choate, officiating. One of the most memo-
rable wedding presents they received was a
sack full of rags from Bessie Zachery. She said
she didn't know what in the world a young
couple just starting up housekeeping with all
new things would do for rags, so she thought
we could use some of hers. Following the
completion of their educations in Kansas
City, Nina and Ken have made their home in
California with their two children, Timothy
Allan and Janet Louise.