Clementine Odessa Yergan O’Banion

Clementine Odessa Yergan O’Banion was born about 1909, in North Carolina. In 1928, Miss Yergan graduated from Miner Teachers College in Washington, D.C. Lillian Smith Dempsey (1917-2011) remembered Mrs. O’Banion as one of Morgantown’s teachers. She was married to Morgantown’s Lawrence O’Banion. Their marriage license was listed in Washington, D.C.’s Sunday Star, April 5, 1931. On the 1930 U.S. Census her occupation is noted as public school teacher. On the 1940 U.S. census, she and her husband are living in the District of Columbia on K Street, N.E. Her occupation is listed as musician. The couple’s daughter, Louise Mae O’Banion, passed away in July 2000. Census records indicate that Washington, D.C. is the O’Banion’s permanent address, but with family members living in Morgantown, the couple visited frequently. It is unclear whether Mrs. O’Banion was a County appointed teacher or whether she voluntarily assisted in Morgantown’s classroom. In these small, rural school settings it was not unusual for parents to visit and assist teachers and students where needed.