Clara’s maiden name was Choate. She is the daughter of Marvin Choate and wife Nenah Bowden Choate. The Choate home was in the Little Crab community. A total of eleven children were born to Marvin and Nenah whose names were: Minnie; Wilbern; Willis; Willie; Clara; Walter; Grace; and Pauline. One infant died at birth and two other children died at a very young age. When Clara was just six years old, and Pauline was only one year old, their mother passed away. After the death of their mother, the responsibility of caring for the younger children was passed on to Minnie. She not only did the cooking, but did the washing and ironing for all the family. The washing was done on a rub board and the ironing was done by heating the iron on the wood cook stove. During the period of time the WPA program was underway, Marvin Choate worked for while under that program. Each time Marvin got a paycheck from the WPA, Clara said the family thought they were really living "high on the hog."

Clara described their growing up years as rough, but they had a good time. Some of their favorite games they played as children were Ring Around the Rosie, and Annie Over, played with a homemade ball made from strings. Playing marbles was another thing they enjoyed. The boys made their own marbles by chipping out a limestone rock that was placed in a hole drilled in a flat rock where water from the spring ran over it, and smoothed out all the rough edges as it tumbled around. Roaming the hillsides was something else they did, not just as children, but Clara said that was something she enjoyed doing up until just the last few years. She described some of the hillsides she liked to explore as "being steep as a cat’s face." Stick weeds served as their stick horses, and making a playhouse underneath the kitchen floor was something else they enjoyed. Moss was used to make small beds with, and mud pies were made and served on broken pieces of dishes.

What the Choate family had to eat they grew themselves. They had cows to milk, and from the milk, they churned their own butter. They raised hogs for meat, and the eggs from their chickens were taken to Pete Wright’s store across the river. Sometimes when the river was up, Marvin Choate would take the children across in a canoe, and at other times, they would wade across, or ride a mule to the store to get their staples. They grew sweet potatoes that were wintered over in the loft above the fireplace of their house. Irish potatoes, cabbage, and turnips they grew would be placed in a hole in the ground covered first with grass, then dirt, and finally boards would be stood around the dirt mound over the vegetables. This was the method used to preserve those vegetables during the winter months. Only a small amount of dirt and grass would be taken off each time either potatoes, cabbage, or some turnips were taken out of the hole in the ground, and then the dirt and grass would be put back on the mound.