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Biographical Memorial of Clarence E. Fay
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Clarence Eugene Fay was born in the old Fay Homestead March 1, 1873 in Parma, Ohio. I believe his father, Jeremiah Wilcox Fay, to have been the first white male born in that town in 1822. Clarence's younger days were spent as a farmer. During his life he held several jobs such as working for the NYC Railroad as a firemen on the work train, stillman for an oil company, and as an employee for a carbon company.
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He married Ruth R. Stevens, whom many considered "the dearest girl in town", and had five children. He and his family would frequently go to town in their Spring Wagon and stop at the People's Grocery store. This would have been at the intersection of Pearl and Broadview Roads. The bill for a weeks worth of food was 2 to 3 dollars. They would also take a calf or pig to the slaughter house for butchering. This was at the corner of Ridge and Brookpark Roads.
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Gene, a son who is now ninety-nine with nineteen great great grandchildren of his own writes, "I can remember the first automobile Dad bought. It was a 1916 Mitchell-seven passenger touring car, fold-down top, side curtains. He was able to buy it because he had sold a part of the farm to a Catholic church for their cemetery. It is now located on West 54th Street, at the east end of Theota Avenue. As the years went by, I learned how to drive the car and was real proud. Mother also drove it and was the driver and owner of the first school bus Parma ever had. Kids rode in the car as well as on the running boards."
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Clarence and his family lived in the old Fay house which stood on fifty acres, the small portion of once a larger farm. His social interests and pastimes included playing the bass tuba in a band, bowling, and being involved at the Odd Fellows Lodge Hall. Prior to 1916, they moved a block to the north. This smaller house was also built on the farm and can still be seen. It is on Bradley Avenue which was named for Clarence's mother, Mary Ann Bradley. The large brick Fay house, which was once known as "B. Fay's Inn", was torn down around this time.
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He later lived with his son, Gene, in Berea, Ohio. At this time he worked at the Standard Drug store in town. My mother, Judy Fay, can remember taking longs walks with him through town as a girl. She recalls him frequently reciting Longfellow's "The Wreck of the Hesperus" which was a favorite poem of his. He would also ask for the Bible, or "The Good Book", and was a member of the Parma Presbyterian Church on Pearl Road. Later in life he suffered from throat cancer and died in 1947. He was seventy four years of age and was buried at Brooklyn Heights Cemetery near Parma. When Clarence was born Parma's population was about fourteen hundred, at his death about twenty two thousand.
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This biographical memorial of Clarence E. Fay was written to the best of my knowledge. At the time of this writing it has been fifty six years since his death and he has many descendants who are of his sixth generation. I hope it will serve all those who are interested in their family heritage.
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All of the above has been read and approved by Ruth Fay, the past and current president of the Parma Historical Society. Her knowledge of the Fays, Parma's first family, make her a source to many as speaker and historian.
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Written by A. Paul Johnson with Jennifer Fay (Johnson) Tetzloff, great grandchildren
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