Clarence was the third of six children born to Peter and Maud Mae Ecklor Mader, Jr.. Clarence did not finish school, and instead worked to help provide for his family. One of his jobs was as a "Roustabout" with a carnival.
On 29 August 1931 he married Miss Freda "Fritz" Wilhelmina Clark. Freda's parents were William Arthur and Christina Schulte Clark.
1931-1937, were lean years for the Maders, as they were for everyone, during The Great Depression. The Maders' first homes were tents, in which they spent at least one cold Minnesota winter. They also lived in a "houseboat" along the Mississsippi River. It was one in a string of identical houseboats that resembled single-wide mobile homes.
The couple had three children, one son and two daughters.
Clarence did whatever work he could find, including shoveling coal for the railroad....two tons in a day! He once unloaded an entire truckload of watermelons, to earn one watermelon to take home to his family. Many years later, Clarence admitted having stolen a quart of milk from someone's doorstep. Clarence, like many men and boys fed their families by hunting and fishing.
In 1938 the family moved to Milwaukee, and Clarence worked with sheet metal and furnaces. He would continue in this line of work, eventually owning his own business. During WWII the Maders moved to California, which had work for Clarence in the shipyards, and then they moved to Iowa.
After 1946, Wisconsin would be their home. Clarence was the ultimate practical joker, a bright man who would go to great lengths to get a laugh. He once called his teenage granddaughters (who lived in the same small town) at twilight to race to his house to see a very rare wood duck. They all ran to see this rare sight~~a wood duck, perched atop a tall pole in Clarence's yard. It was hard to make out the details, as it was getting dark, but his granddaughters were in awe. Wow. They raced to his house after school the next day to see if the the wood duck was still there. And it was~~ motionless on the top of the pole. It took them a few minutes before it dawned on them that it really WAS a wood duck. It was a wooden duck DECOY. I still wonder how he got it up there to begin with.
Clarence drove school bus after his retirement in Buffalo City, WI.
Freda died in 1973, and Clarence followed her a decade later. His twisted sense of humor lives on in his descendants.
On 29 August 1931 he married Miss Freda "Fritz" Wilhelmina Clark. Freda's parents were William Arthur and Christina Schulte Clark.
1931-1937, were lean years for the Maders, as they were for everyone, during The Great Depression. The Maders' first homes were tents, in which they spent at least one cold Minnesota winter. They also lived in a "houseboat" along the Mississsippi River. It was one in a string of identical houseboats that resembled single-wide mobile homes.
The couple had three children, one son and two daughters.
Clarence did whatever work he could find, including shoveling coal for the railroad....two tons in a day! He once unloaded an entire truckload of watermelons, to earn one watermelon to take home to his family. Many years later, Clarence admitted having stolen a quart of milk from someone's doorstep. Clarence, like many men and boys fed their families by hunting and fishing.
In 1938 the family moved to Milwaukee, and Clarence worked with sheet metal and furnaces. He would continue in this line of work, eventually owning his own business. During WWII the Maders moved to California, which had work for Clarence in the shipyards, and then they moved to Iowa.
After 1946, Wisconsin would be their home. Clarence was the ultimate practical joker, a bright man who would go to great lengths to get a laugh. He once called his teenage granddaughters (who lived in the same small town) at twilight to race to his house to see a very rare wood duck. They all ran to see this rare sight~~a wood duck, perched atop a tall pole in Clarence's yard. It was hard to make out the details, as it was getting dark, but his granddaughters were in awe. Wow. They raced to his house after school the next day to see if the the wood duck was still there. And it was~~ motionless on the top of the pole. It took them a few minutes before it dawned on them that it really WAS a wood duck. It was a wooden duck DECOY. I still wonder how he got it up there to begin with.
Clarence drove school bus after his retirement in Buffalo City, WI.
Freda died in 1973, and Clarence followed her a decade later. His twisted sense of humor lives on in his descendants.
Clarence was the third of six children born to Peter and Maud Mae Ecklor Mader, Jr.. Clarence did not finish school, and instead worked to help provide for his family. One of his jobs was as a "Roustabout" with a carnival.
On 29 August 1931 he married Miss Freda "Fritz" Wilhelmina Clark. Freda's parents were William Arthur and Christina Schulte Clark.
1931-1937, were lean years for the Maders, as they were for everyone, during The Great Depression. The Maders' first homes were tents, in which they spent at least one cold Minnesota winter. They also lived in a "houseboat" along the Mississsippi River. It was one in a string of identical houseboats that resembled single-wide mobile homes.
The couple had three children, one son and two daughters.
Clarence did whatever work he could find, including shoveling coal for the railroad....two tons in a day! He once unloaded an entire truckload of watermelons, to earn one watermelon to take home to his family. Many years later, Clarence admitted having stolen a quart of milk from someone's doorstep. Clarence, like many men and boys fed their families by hunting and fishing.
In 1938 the family moved to Milwaukee, and Clarence worked with sheet metal and furnaces. He would continue in this line of work, eventually owning his own business. During WWII the Maders moved to California, which had work for Clarence in the shipyards, and then they moved to Iowa.
After 1946, Wisconsin would be their home. Clarence was the ultimate practical joker, a bright man who would go to great lengths to get a laugh. He once called his teenage granddaughters (who lived in the same small town) at twilight to race to his house to see a very rare wood duck. They all ran to see this rare sight~~a wood duck, perched atop a tall pole in Clarence's yard. It was hard to make out the details, as it was getting dark, but his granddaughters were in awe. Wow. They raced to his house after school the next day to see if the the wood duck was still there. And it was~~ motionless on the top of the pole. It took them a few minutes before it dawned on them that it really WAS a wood duck. It was a wooden duck DECOY. I still wonder how he got it up there to begin with.
Clarence drove school bus after his retirement in Buffalo City, WI.
Freda died in 1973, and Clarence followed her a decade later. His twisted sense of humor lives on in his descendants.
On 29 August 1931 he married Miss Freda "Fritz" Wilhelmina Clark. Freda's parents were William Arthur and Christina Schulte Clark.
1931-1937, were lean years for the Maders, as they were for everyone, during The Great Depression. The Maders' first homes were tents, in which they spent at least one cold Minnesota winter. They also lived in a "houseboat" along the Mississsippi River. It was one in a string of identical houseboats that resembled single-wide mobile homes.
The couple had three children, one son and two daughters.
Clarence did whatever work he could find, including shoveling coal for the railroad....two tons in a day! He once unloaded an entire truckload of watermelons, to earn one watermelon to take home to his family. Many years later, Clarence admitted having stolen a quart of milk from someone's doorstep. Clarence, like many men and boys fed their families by hunting and fishing.
In 1938 the family moved to Milwaukee, and Clarence worked with sheet metal and furnaces. He would continue in this line of work, eventually owning his own business. During WWII the Maders moved to California, which had work for Clarence in the shipyards, and then they moved to Iowa.
After 1946, Wisconsin would be their home. Clarence was the ultimate practical joker, a bright man who would go to great lengths to get a laugh. He once called his teenage granddaughters (who lived in the same small town) at twilight to race to his house to see a very rare wood duck. They all ran to see this rare sight~~a wood duck, perched atop a tall pole in Clarence's yard. It was hard to make out the details, as it was getting dark, but his granddaughters were in awe. Wow. They raced to his house after school the next day to see if the the wood duck was still there. And it was~~ motionless on the top of the pole. It took them a few minutes before it dawned on them that it really WAS a wood duck. It was a wooden duck DECOY. I still wonder how he got it up there to begin with.
Clarence drove school bus after his retirement in Buffalo City, WI.
Freda died in 1973, and Clarence followed her a decade later. His twisted sense of humor lives on in his descendants.
