Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives

Source: July 1994 Volume 32 Number 3, Page 126

In Memoriam: George W. Clemmans

Page 126

The Tredyffrin Easttown History Club lost one of its newer members when George W. Clemmans died on April 20, 1994 at the age of 85.

A life-long resident of this area, he was born in Rosemont, the son of the late George C. and Lulu Kerrigan Clemmans. He attended the elementary school in Paoli and graduated from Tredyffrin Easttown High School in the Class of 1929. (At club meetings he would often share his old school pictures with us.)

In the 1930s he owned and operated the hardware store on Lancaster Avenue in Paoli. Many of his customers were Italians who worked on the railroad, and he learned Italian from them. He was described as being always "intellectually curious". After losing his hardware store in the Depression, he worked for thirty years as a machinist with the Philadelphia Electric Company and was known for his knowledge of motors and machines.

He was a member of the Church of the Good Samaritan in Paoli. He was also an avid gardener, with a special love for tomatoes.

After the death of his wife about ten years ago, one of his neighbors, Ruth Bennett, recalled, he made up for his lack of family by having many friends, and had a soft spot in his heart for his friends and neighbors. "As George aged," she noted, "he became more appreciative of the little things that neighbors did for him -- taking him to the library, to stores, doing his shopping, etc. ... We were his family and he knew that. And he was grateful for every new day that God gave him."