IRENE MCCLENDON

Irene McClendon was a religious, loving and good-hearted woman who singlehandedly raised her children after her husband died.

“She was a wonderful woman,” her daughter Gladys Riggin said. “She was always giving to others.”

Irene was born on Aug. 6, 1896, and was raised by her father Green Howard and first her mother Rebecca and then stepmother Cheney.

She joined Mount Zion Baptist Church during her childhood and in later years joined Davis Temple Church in Macon, GA.

“What you do for me, Lord, I’ll be satisfied” were the words to her favorite song, said her daughter Sadie Edwards.

Irene married Bailey McClendon on Nov. 28, 1915, and they had 10 children, eight of whom were still living in 1988.

Bailey was among the millions of men drafted into the U.S. Army under the Selective Service Act of 1917. As the country prepared to go to war with Germany, it sought to build up its sparse military. Bailey along with his brothers-in-law Alonzo, Walter and Guss were among the men required to sign up. The brothers-in-law registered in the first wave, June 5, 1917. Bailey was in the third wave: Sept. 12, 1918. 

Bailey and Irene had five daughters – Sadie, Annie Bell, Bertha Lee, Gladys and Early Lee; and three sons – Robert, Willie James and Walter. Two other sons, George and Alonzo, are deceased.

Irene was a housewife and her husband was a farmer. He died May 21, 1937.

She has lived in Bolingbroke, Walden and Milledgeville, GA. She moved to Macon in 1948.

“She talked about her only sister, Elizabeth Causey, and her brothers,” her son Robert said. “She and her youngest brother, Obie Howard, were real close. She loved them all.”

Irene was the only one of Green and Rebecca’s children who was still living during the 1988 reunion. She died in November 1990.

Irene and her brother Obie at the Howard Family’s 1981 reunion in Macon, GA.

Bailey McClendon’s death certificate, May 21, 1937.