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Crafted With Love...
Clarence Brabham's Workshop A Busy Place At Christmas

Those who think Santa Claus' workshop is in the North Pole haven't seen what Clarence Brabham has been up to over on Midway Street in Bamberg. Brabham is as busy as an elf making Christmas presents for family and friends, something he's been doing with love every Christmas now for about 18 years.

Clarence Brabham
Clarence Brabham sands a piece of furniture he's making
as a Christmas gift for a family member. When he retired
in 1970 from Brabham Oil Co., which he founded in 1929,
Brabham took up furniture making as a hobby.

Since retiring in 1970 from Brabham Oil Company, which he founded in 1929, Brabham has spent much of his time creating beauty from wood. In his well-equipped shop he spends his days lovingly crafting furniture that will grace the homes of his three daughters - Virginia "Ginger" Lee Nettles McCully, Cantey Hamilton Carpenter and Tanne Mouzon Carpenter - six grandchildren, and dozens of nieces, nephews and friends. At age 80 he can no longer handle the heavy pieces of lumber required for making large furniture like dining room tables, beds and china cabinets, but he still delights in making flower stands, coat racks, stools, benches, etc. He can look at a picture of a piece of furniture and then make it, often without any specifications to go by. So highly prized is his work that one of his handcrafted stools brought a handsome price at Trinity United Methodist Church's Vecent bazaar. But, he points out that he's never made anything to sell - that he gives it all away to people he cares about.

Brabham is a man who'd never be satisfied "just sitting around," and because of that need to stay active, he still gets up early every morning, enjoys a walk with daughter Ginger when the weather's good and then goes to his shop to put in a full day's work.

When his beloved Virginia Lee Netties died in March 1986, Brabham said he lost a dear friend as well as a wife.

"My wife got me started in this furniture making. I had never done anything like it before," noted Brabham, and he added tenderly, "She was such a tremendous help to me in every way."

Moravian Christmas Tree
Ginger McCully, one of Brabham's daughters,
admires a Moravian Christmas tree her father
fashioned for daughter Tanne. Brabham can look
at something and, even without specifications, copy it beautifully.

Daughter Ginger has been very close to her father, too. Pointed out Brabham, "If I hadn't had that girl I don't know what I'd do."

Made from Heart Pine
This is just one of 16 dining room tables Clarence
Brabham has made from heart pine for family members.

Mrs. McCully said if it hadn't been for her father, her house and her heart would be a lot emptier.

"I guess everybody probably says this. But for me it's very true. I had the best possible parents in the world. Mama was kind and quiet, and Daddy is just a super person...very unselfish. He's always been so good to people," she said. "As for Daddy's furniture making, my house wouldn't even have anything in it if I didn't have the beautiful things he's made for us."

Brabham has made 16 dining room tables and 15 or 16 four-poster beds. He works almost exclusively with heart pine. Before setting up his shop on Midway Street on the Brabham Oil Co. property, he worked in a shop at the family's Edisto River cottage down on Hwy. 64. It's a quiet, peaceful place he loves very much as expressed in the poem he wrote several years ago entitled, "Our Cottage on the Edisto," which is reprinted on this page.

It is obvious that Clarence Brabham is a man who has lived his life so that he will have left the world a better place than he found it. People who know him well describe him as "a fine man."

He was been a very important part of the Bamberg community, having served on the Bamberg County Memorial Hospital Board. He was instrumental in organizing the Chamber of Commerce, and he served as chairman of the Bamberg County Development Board for several years. A member of Trinity United Methodist Church, Brabham served as chairman of the church's building committee for construction of the fellowship hall and Sunday School annex and for the more recent renovation of the main church building. He is also a past charter member of the Bamberg Lions Club, a past commander of the American Legion, a Mason and a member of the Men's Garden Club. Brabham served as Director of the Edisto Citadel Club.

He also served his country as a Major in the U. S. Army Air Force during WWII and as a Major in the U. S. Air Force for 9 months during the Korean Conflict.

Today Clarence Brabham is still a doer...a man who will leave his mark in a very positive way on this world - not just in terms of his signature carved in the furniture he makes but in terms of the love he has given and still gives to others.

Brabham's Workshop full of gifts

Our Cottage on the Edisto

At our river cottage as evenings shadows grow tall, And the crickets in sweet melody sing, It is then we love to sit and listen to their call, Marveling at the wonder nature brings.

When the sun is setting, casting its last glowing rays, Nocturnal life in the forest starts, Owls and whippoorwills join the crickets to have their says, And the birds from our feeders depart.

Soon darkness will hide the many creatures in the forest wild, But by their many voices, they will us tell, Of their ever living presence around us all the while, Our creature neighbors who around us dwell.

Our Maker, so grand, knowing each lowly creature's need, Sets the balance of nature with care. Only man, with his wasteful self and excessive greed, Can change His plans made with wisdom rare.

When the sun finally disappears from view in the west, Colorfully finishing its daily rounds, Soon day is done, and as we prepare for nightly rest, Within us a living hope abounds.

Then from our bedroom window we see the twinkling star, And the lovely moon so bright above, Portraying in splendid sight how very great His powers are, Giving us assurance of His great love.

With the coming of another day in the early dawn, We wait for our friends of yesterday, The cardinals, wrens, and thrashers to our feeders drawn, And watch with joy as they eat and play.

Now we can go about our daily task with much more fun, At our quiet place down on the Edisto, Where we live with the creatures wild, the moon, and the sun. May the good Lord let it long be so. - - - - C. M. B.

From: The Advertizer-Herald, Lifestyles - November 24, 1988 - Page 1-B
Article By: Carol Barker



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525 Midway Street, Bamberg, SC 29003

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