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2009 McClellan Family Reunion

Katherine Wilmetta McClellan

Katherine Wilmetta McClellan, the fourth child of the late George and Maggie McClellan, was born October 7, 1907, in Jellico, Tennessee.
 
As a child, she grew up in Jellico, where she attended the elementary school there, from the primary grade to the ninth, under the tutelage of Professors Young and Anderson.
 
She was eight (8) years old when her father died from injuries in a coal mine accident.  At the age of sixteen, she went to Lexington, KY, where she attended Dunbar High School.  She completed the eleventh grade.  In Lexington, she also met her future husband, Morris McRoberts.  She then returned to Jellico, where she and Morris were married.  To this union, a son was born, Charles Chester.
 
At the age of twenty, she was divorced from Mr. McRoberts and moved from Jellico to LaFollette, TN, with her mother, Maggie McClellan, and two sisters, Marjorie and Beatrice.
 
She then joined Standford Chapel A.M.E Zion Church, where she was very active in various capacities.  Three years after the move to LaFollette, she dated the "boy next door", William Henry Younge.
 
Four years later, on May 27, 1935, they were married.  To this union, on November 20, 1938, a lovely daughter was born, Patricia Ann.  Aunt "Met" was very active in community affairs in LaFollette.  Among those, she was President for a number of years of the school P.T.A..  She also was instrumental in forming the Community Youth Choir, which consisted of children from both the Methodist and Baptist churches.
 
In September, 1953, she and her daughter joined her husband "Bill", as he was affectionately known, in Dayton, Ohio, where he was working and preparing a home for his family.
 
After being in Dayton for two years and visiting several churches, she decided that Greater Allen A.M.E. Church would be her church home.  She was there for forty-three years of  service.  She joined the Senior Choir, Cathedral Choir, the Bell Ringers, Stewardess Board #3, ant the Ladies Aid Club.  She no longer sings in the choirs or rings the bells, but is still very active and a faithful member of the Ladies Aid and the Stewardess Board.  On July 29, 1959, her husband "Bill" passed away.
 
At the age of ninety, she is still going strong.  She is also a member of the Ellison Senior Citizens Organization.  She always says, "she will die standing on her feet".  She doesn't stand still long enough to let grass grow under her feet.
 
She is and will always be a very important part of our family and our lives.  In addition to her two children, "Mama Met", as she is affectionately called, has twelve grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren.
 
We Love you "Mama Met"
 
(this was taken from the 1998 McClellan Reunion event booklet.  The reunion was held in Gatlinburg, TN.)
 
Wilmetta McClellan Young passed in April, 2001