The Farmer’s Creed
I believe a man’s greatest possession is his dignity and that no calling bestows this more abundantly than farming.
I believe hard work and honest sweat are the building blocks of a person’s character.
I believe that farming, despite its hardships and disappointments, is the most honest and honourable way a man can spend in his days on Earth.
I belive my children are learning values that will last a lifetime and can be learned no other way.
I believe farming provides education for life and that no other occupation teaches so much about birth, growth and maturity in such a variety of ways.
I believe many of the best things in life are indeed free: the splendour of a sunrise, the rapture of wide open spaces, and the exhilarating sight of your land greening each spring.
I believe that true happiness comes from watching your crops ripen in the field, your children grow tall in the sun, your whole family feels the pride that springs from their shared experiences.
I believe that by my toil I am giving more to the world than I am taking from it: an honour that does not come to all men.
I believe my life will be measured ultimately by what I have done for my fellow man, and by this standardard I fear no judgement.
I believe when a mangrows old and suns up his days, he should be able to stand tall and feel pride in the life he has lived.
I believe in farming because it makes all of this possible.
Those words describe Clarence McBride to a T say his family.
Thursday evening, June 26, a month after he celebrated his 86th birthday, Mr. McBride, a reeve of the former municipality of Bromley Township, died. Recalling that night, his son Stewart said Joyce, his father’s wife, told him Clarence had supper, became ill, and went upstairs to bed. His wife heard a thump and by the time she got upstairs, he had collapsed. Mrs. McBride performed CPR on her husband until paramedics arrived, but it was too late, Stewart said.
“The paramedics said he was dead before he hit the floor,” he said.
Looking back at his father’s life, Stewart said, “He was a third generation farmer.”
Mr. McBride’s father Cecil and his grandfather Alex both farmed where the family farm currently is, which is just outside of Cobden on the Cobden-Eganville Road.
In 2011, the McBride farm celebrated its 100th anniversary. Today, Stewart works the dairy farm with his son Paul, which makes them the fourth and fifth generation farmers.
Daughter Darlene Nighbor said while the farm was important to her father, so was the community. He was on the outdoor rink committee, on the ballfield committee and curling club committee. He was third generation president of the Cobden Agriculture Society. He was also on the Renfrew County Milk Board from 1966 to 1984 and in 1973 he was elected a councillor for Bromley Township. Two years later, he was the reeve, a position he held for the next 27 years. He was Renfrew County Warden in 1983.
Neighbour Terry O’Gorman knew Mr. McBride for a long time and agreed the community was important to him.
“Clarence and I sat on various committees together,” Mr. O’Gorman recalled while in the agriculture hall following the funeral Monday morning. “This hall committee. We were on the first rink committee that was formed. We were on the milk committee together and the Dairy Herd Improvement Committee. I sat on a lot of committees with Clarence.”
When Mr. McBride married Eileen, they first lived in Pembroke and he worked at Pleasantview Dairy in Pembroke, Ms. Nighbor said. In1949/50, the couple moved back to the farm after his father suffered a heart attack.
When Mr. McBride was elected Reeve, it was a job he took seriously, Stewart said.
“He would leave in the morning and do township stuff and we did the farm work,” he said. “He was home at night. It was like a day job to him.”
While he wasn’t actively farming, Stewart said he gave advice and took care of the bills.
“It worked well for all of us,” he said.
Mike Johnson, who was clerk of Renfrew County for 33 years said, “I remember Clarence with great respect. Clarence served from the late 1970s as reeve of Bromley (Township) and he was there right until amalgamation with the Township of Admaston. He was a real presence on county council, highly respected, straight off the shoulder kind of politician. He was a man of total integrity.
“I had the pleasure of serving under him as warden in 1983 and so he was truly one of the longer serving county councillors in my 33 years working for the county,” he recalled. “Possibly one of the fondest memories of Clarence is, even after he retired as reeve of Bromley and was no longer active in municipal politics, he remained extremely loyal to the County of Renfrew and any county function of any kind you could rest assured you would see Clarence McBride there.
“I look back on my years of being involved with him at the municipal political level with great fondness,” Mr. Johnson said.
Ms.Nighbor said her father ran the township like he ran his own business (dairy farm) — he was not frivolous with the township funds.
Lauretta Rice, who was clerk/treasurer for the former Bromley Township from 1985 to 2001, agreed. She took over the job after her husband, who had been clerk/treasurer, passed away. He was very thrifty and used taxpayers dollars to the best advantage in the municipality, she said.
Mr. O’Gorman said Mr. McBride handled the township money the same as his own.
“Clarence didn’t spend anything foolishly, he made sure he got good value for his dollar,” he said. “When the township amalgamated with Admaston (Township), it was in good shape financially.”
Stewart said one of his father’s accomplishments was the paving of Snake River Line.
Roads were very important to Mr. McBride, said Mr. Johnson.
“He was a very pro-active politician and in his earlier years on county council he was particularly interested in roads issues. He was chair of the roads committee for a good number of years,” he recalled.
While he was reeve, Mr. McBride made every effort to attend every function, Stewart said. And, if people needed to talk to him, they would come to the farm, he said.
“People were always here,” he said. “And if you asked him to do something, he followed it through.
“Anything he was involved he, he was passionate about. When he went on a committee, he gave his heart and soul.”
Mr. Johnson recalled how involved Mr. McBride was when he was the county warden.
“In 1983, when Clarence was warden, he sat as ex-officio member of all committees and he was active on all of them for that particular year he was warden,” he said.
Mr. McBride was well-known and honoured throughout the community. In 2002, he was Cobden Civitan Citizen of the Year and was named to the Renfrew County Agriculture Wall of Fame. That same year he also received the Queen’s Jubilee Award. He was also involved with the Community Policing Advisory Committee, was a Mason for 60 years and received the Award of Merit from the Eastern Ontario Seed and Crop Association in 1983.
Mr. McBride was a strong supporter of the historical society, Ms. Nighbor said. He would often set up an historical display at various events.
“He knew a lot of history,” she said. “He was like the spokesperson for Bromley.”
Mr. O’Gorman said he and Mr. McBride were both active on the Bromley Historical Society.
“Clarence was probably one of the first to get involved when I approached council about the hall in Osceola,” he said.
Mr. McBride also worked as the cashier for auctioneer Revel Stewart for many years.
“He kept us in line for a good while,” Mr. Stewart said.
One thing about Mr. McBride was you knew where you stood with him, he said. He wasn’t shy to tell you what was happening, but he was also a very fair man.
“I have lots of memories from the auction sales,” he said. “We had a lot of good laughs and good times. Once he got the books done, we talked about the good times that day and what happened.”
As children of Mr.McBride, they said he was strict but fair. He taught them if you start something you followed through with it until it was done. The farm was definitely a family farm, Ms. Nighbor said.
There were five children raised on the farm – Linda, Stewart, Darlene Gerald and Alex.
“I was seven when Linda and I started switching off getting meals,” she recalled. “It was a family farm. We all had chores to do.”
Stewart and Ms. Nighbor both agreed when she said, “It made us a better person. He made us realize the value of family.”
Stewart said when the work was done on the farm, everything was put away. Mr. McBride believed there was no reason not to have a tidy farm.
“I followed him and I keep it tidy as well,” he said.
“He’s been very proud of your achievement,” Ms. Nighbor said to Stewart. “It’s a tradition you have carried on.”
Ms. Rice knows how important Mr. McBride’s family was to him.
“He loved his wife dearly and his family,” she said. “Even though he was on council, he still liked to talk about his farm and his family, that was very important to him.
“The municipality was as important to him and he treated his family and municipality with utmost interest, as much as he could contribute he tried to contribute to both the municipality and family,” she said.
Mr. McBride’s wife Eileen passed away in April 1988 and in December 1999, he married Joyce, and his family grew, adding on three stepsons – Don, Rob and Andy. Between the eight children and spouses, there are now 12 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
Mr. McBride turned 86 on May 26. He even went and got his licence again, Stewart said. On May 20, 2014 his only brother Jim passed away.
At Mr. McBride’s funeral, granddaughter Shawna McBride read aloud The Farmer’s Creed.
Rev. Patrica Van Gelder said she couldn’t believe it when she heard Mr. McBride had passed away.
“I saw him earlier today, as if nothing could have happened in the meantime,” she said during the funeral service. “I couldn’t quite believe what I was hearing.
“Death does this to us,” she said. “No matter how much we understand, or think we understand, no matter how well we comprehend the workings of the human body and brain, and to a lesser extent spirit, death brings us up short. It is a mystery, a change that takes us in a split second from life to death. And sometimes the only way we have to respond is to respond with a plaintive but…”
Rev. Van Gelder said the people were gathering in worship and grief, in gratitude and pain, and possibly in confusion with some mental ‘buts… “To give thanks for Clarence’s life and to give him into God’s keeping.”
She said it’s important to remember to rely on each other, as well as ourselves, to remind us that God is with us always.
“That is our comfort and our hope.”
In a final prayer, Rev. Van Gelder said, “Help us to feel Your presence and be strengthened by it. Hold us in Your love as we try and hold onto our faith and trust in You. Thank You for Clarence, for all that he was to us and all that we were to him, for those gifts of mind, heart and spirit which were uniquely him. For your grace at work in his life, for his commitment, his love of land and history, for everything that made him him, we thank You. We thank You for the reminders that there was never a moment when he wasn’t surrounded by Your love and care, supporting him and holding him up.
“From the moment of birth until the moment of death and beyond, Your presence has been a constant. We pray for Joyce, for Clarence’s children, grandchildren and the rest of the family. For his friends, give them the strength and courage they need to walk through these days of grief with grace and joy.”
