Clara Vincent

Faces I Remember: a Memoir Clara Vincent

We are a family that broke the chain of child abuse and rejection from our father. Some people who knew my daddy would never believe a person like him could have fooled them so badly. Yet, we still have people say to us today "Your daddy was such a nice man." I have simply opened the doors to the house that I grew up in and described the way my mama, my sisters, and I really had to live. Telling the truth has been a very hurtful experience for me, but I feel cleansed. I feel relieved that we no longer have to live guarding our horrible family secret. Some people may be brazen enough to ask, "Why even tell it now? How can you do this to your now deceased father?"Well, my answer would be that Daddy told his own story, lived his own life, and did not care who suffered from it. He set a terrible example of double standards for us, his children. He beat the devil out of us for nothing. He robbed us of a precious childhood that could never be regained. He robbed us of enjoyment, innocence, and security. But in the end and with God's help, we won. We learned how to love our spouses, how to be committed to our marriages, how to rear children with love born out of unfair suffering and misguided and unmerciful punishment. His sick motives and immoral behavior that so long imprisoned us did not keep us bound forever. My sisters and I all survived our horrible past. By the grace of God we have left a generation of sin and have become a generation of blessings. If we can survive our past and thrive in our lives, others can hope to do so as well.