My Family
My husband, Roy Leonard McClure, was born in 1948, at Morrilton, in Conway County, Arkansas. He was the youngest of nine children born to Charles William McClure and Velma Mae Branham.
Roy graduated from Morrilton High School in 1966 and enlisted in the U. S. Navy in January 1967, at which time he was sent to Great Lakes, Illinois, Company 30, for basic training. In April 1967, Roy was assigned to duty aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, which at that time was the largest ship in the world and the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier. He was an electrician, working on the catapults and elevators used to launch aircraft and to raise and lower the planes to the flight deck. In July 1968, Roy was sent to survival school at Coronado Island, California. After completion of survival school, in October 1968, he was sent to Saigon, Vietnam. A week later he was sent to Sadec, Vietnam, which is located in the Mekong delta on the Mekong River. There he was assigned to the Naval Support Activity 90.7, and assigned to the River Patrol Boat Maintenance (PBR). In October 1969, Roy was returned to New London, Connecticut, to the Electrical Maintenance Division. He was discharged in October 1970, and returned to Morrilton.
Roy and I married April 30, 1971, in Conway County. I am Katherine (Bridgman) McClure. I was born in 1949, at Solgohachia, in Conway County, the eldest of two children born to Herbert Howard Bridgman and Maggie May Horton.
I graduated from Morrilton High School in 1967. After graduation, I attended Morrilton Beauty College. I passed the Arkansas State Board of Cosmetology exam and became a licensed cosmetologist in 1968. I worked only a few years in that profession before marrying and beginning my family.
Roy and I bought a house at Plumerville, in Conway County, and moved here in January 1972. Roy started work for a construction company in Conway, Arkansas, in March 1972 and worked for that company until 1994, at which time he became employed by the U.S. Army as an Administrative Technician with the Army Reserves.
In August 1977, Roy joined Troop E, 151st Cav. (101st Airborne Div.) of Arkansas National Guard at Conway, Arkansas, transferring to Co. B 489th Engineer Battalion of the U.S. Army Reserve in Conway in 1982. In November 1997, he was transferred to Alpha Company, 489th Engineer Battalion at Hot Springs, Arkansas, as 1st Sergeant. In 2001, he was transferred to Headquarters Company at Little Rock, Arkansas as Master Sergeant and in 2002 was transferred to B Company in Conway. In early 2003 the 489th Engineer Battalion was activated for full time duty. Roy was sent to Iraq with his Reserve unit where they engaged in Operation Enduring/Iraqi Freedom. Roy was medically discharged in December 2005. He is a member of the DAV and the VFW and serves as chairman of the Plumerville Association of Conway County Veterans, an organization he was instrumental in forming.
I returned to the public work force after our youngest child entered school. I worked a few years as a bookkeeper for an electrical contractor at Morrilton. I was appointed on January 1, 1988 to fill the vacancy and complete the term of office as Recorder/Treasurer for the City of Plumerville. I then ran for that office in five elections and served over 21 years as Recorder/Treasurer of Plumerville. I retired on December 31, 2008.
Our oldest son, Scott McClure, was born in 1972, at Plumerville. He graduated from Morrilton High School in 1991 and married Tammie Lovelady the same year. They own a home at Springfield, in Conway County. Scott retired from Molex in Maumelle, Arkansas, after more than 20 years. He is currently employed at Semco in Morrilton, Arkansas. Scott always had an interest in music and played drums for a band called Heterodyne before they broke up a few years ago. Tammie was the owner of Nexus Web Design, a graphic and web design business for a number of years. She currently is employed at Flag and Banner in Little Rock, Arkansas. They have a son, Jon, who is in his second year of college.
Our youngest son, Clint McClure, was born in 1975, at Plumerville. He graduated from Morrilton High School in 1993. Clint married Shannon Hancock in 2004. Clint has been employed as a machine technician with Pitney Bowes in Little Rock, Arkansas for several years. Shannon worked as a life skills instructor at a health care facility in Conway, Arkansas for some years and is now preparing to acquire her nursing degree. Clint and Shannon own a home near us at Plumerville.
We are members of the Church of Christ that meets in Plumerville, Arkansas, where Roy serves as a song leader and fill in Bible class teacher. Roy served for several years as an Elder, Bible class teacher and song leader for the Harding Street congregation at Morrilton, Arkansas. I served as a children's Bible class teacher for some years at Harding Street. We welcome you to worship with us any time you have the opportunity.
The music you are hearing is You Were Always On My Mind.