Clarence Senger

5 AM the alarm rings, in seconds, the alarm is turned off, clothes are put on quickly, and a moment stirring in the kitchen, a few minutes and breakfast is finished, a car is pulling out of the driveway; Clarence will drive all the way from the burbs to downtown LA. To beat traffic, he shows up at least an hour early every day, he is the boss of the bosses in that entire division, with only one-person in the entire city, technically above him. He has keys to everything and can go to a very large public building when it’s closed in the morning and make coffee if he wants to. That day, like any given day, he may end up driving all around the city checking on countless workers, crews, double checking tasks, offering advice and direction, He is in charge of maintaining all the print shops and the countless machines of the City of Los Angeles School District with every school having a print shop, plus another print shop that students can use, plus the Community College District, plus their student print shops, countless thousands of machines all kept in working shape by a small battalion of repair people, and one guy at the top keeping the whole thing running like a well-oiled machine.
After the day is done on that job, Clarence double checks his to-do list for Real Estate: clients, advertising, his own projects, his own rentals, whether it’s maintaining, renovating, building from ground up, or just a clean and show, there is always something to do, somehow, he did it with a speed and efficiency that I’ve never known.
Then Dinner time with the family, multiple weeknights each week after dinner Clarence is back in the car, driving to the adult occupational center, where he taught large classes of people, on how to operate these amazing giant linotype machines, how to troubleshoot them, how to repair them. Arriving back home 10:30PM looking into his son’s room and double checking everything is OK, as his son sleeps, sometimes the son would be awake, Clarence would sit on the bed, and give his son a hug, tell him a bedtime story, amazing stories, all made up on the fly, and then tuck the son in.
Clarence worked hard, he provided profoundly well for his family. Eventually, a day would come. He wouldn’t have to work so hard; Clarence had a vision to get his family and himself to a place that would be comfortable and secure.
Why did Clarence work so hard? Clarence was born in Riverside County, in the City of Paris, California. On May 24, 1925, one of eight children.
Lillian Jeanette “Senger” Maple July/31/1917
John Woodrow Senger Dec/22/1918
Franck Robert Senger Mar/14/1920
Donald Douglas Senger April/30/1921
Floyd Melvin Senger Aug/09/2022 to Apr/1987
Gene Wesley Senger Sep/06/1923
Clarence Ray Senger May/24/1925 to Sep/14/2023
Harold Burton Senger June/05/1927 to Oct/1996
When an uncle had a massive stroke, Clarence’s parents, Ray, and Irene, took in the 4 children of the uncle, making it an even dozen kids to raise during the Great Depression, way out on a farm in very rural Riverside, California. During those very difficult times nobody was buying anything, farmers looked out over their beautiful crops, and the prices were so low it would not even cover the gas to harvest them.
Clarence’s family somehow succeeded in raising a very large family even though times were bad. His childhood was like the movie, Grapes of Wrath, only with a larger cast filmed entirely at one location.
It might seem depressing at times, but when you’re surrounded by people who love you, it’s more than tolerable, and Clarence found a way to thrive with the love and support of parents and lots of siblings, everyone knew their place and job, and they approached every day like a well-rehearsed team.
The economy In Paris California was bad, but Clarence had a lucky break, World War II broke out.
Clarence, and his brother Gene volunteered and enlisted in the Navy. Clarence was stationed in Hawaii for almost a year, and then saw action in the Philippines, when the Japanese were defeated in the Philippines, his ship was sent to Japan. About halfway to Japan. The captain was given orders to stop in the middle of the ocean where they stayed for over a day, then his ship received orders to return to the Philippines. On the way back to the Philippines the Japanese surrendered, and the war was over. In a relatively short time, less than a month, Clarence was back on the farm in Riverside. He did various jobs doing machinist work that led to repair of printing equipment. In Clarence’s childhood his dad had a machine shop and taught him how to use those machines, Clarence was a good machinist, a valuable skill, and that knowledge gave him the working skills to do higher paying work.
Eventually, Clarence obtained a job repairing printing equipment for the City of Los Angeles; he started at the bottom, and one day he would retire from the very top position.
Clarence liked to dance and would go to nightclubs, one large club would host one of the biggest bands of the era on a regular basis, and that was Lawrence Welk Orchestra, on one evening a woman was walking towards the dance floor, and she tripped over something and fell. Clarence grabbed her before she could hit the ground, that woman was Nada Whitfield. That event led to them dating and eventually marrying On December 28, 1957. Clarence and Nada have been married over 65 years.
Clarence was a hard worker, he had lots of different skills: people-skills, management-skills, he could do a fair amount of every major trade-skill, pretty much he was good at anything he tried. He started buying and repairing homes and flipping them. He turned that money into rental properties, and eventually achieved his goal of having a comfortable life for his family, and not to have to worry about money. He never talked about his money worries, but he was a child of depression, growing up under very difficult circumstances. Just about everyone who lived through those circumstances was careful with money.
Clarence used his experience in life to motivate him to never be in those circumstances again, he worked tirelessly to make sure of that, and he succeeded.
Clarence, made plenty of friends, threw parties, constantly went out dancing with his wife whenever they could. From the 80s onward Nada did not have to worry about money. Clarence and Nada had a very good life. The foundation of that life was built on working very hard for decades before the 80s and being a good honest person that people trusted.
There were times I would meet, Clarence’s co-workers, many of them became his friends, and throughout his life when I met these people, they would always said the same thing: Clarence, is such a great guy, kind, decent, hard-working, never complains, easy-going not one about stressing on things he can’t control, generous, and honest.
Even the tenants of his buildings would sing his praises, and that doesn’t happen very often. Looking through his business affairs, there were stacks of letters from people who he did business with thanking him for his decency and great work.
Clarence Ray Senger
Born: May 24/1925
Died: Sep 09/2023