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1994 total estimated population was 415,000); located 50
miles / 80 km west of Guangzhou on the north bank of the
West River / Xi River (Xi Jiang.)
This time the Clinton family worked at a Christian
orphanage for the blind; Don does not know if it belonged
to some denomination. Clifford was now age 10; a younger
sister was born in China on this second trip. Because he was
now old enough to understand much more about daily life in
China, Clifford was deeply moved by what he did and saw.
The orphanage was a walled property within a walled
city. Clifford’s job was to go around each morning to collect
the blind baby girls that had been left outdoors to die (girls
were considered more expendable than boys) and to bring
them to the orphanage. He also saw the hunger and
starvation around him. After the Boxer Rebellion (1898-
1900), it was a time of chaos and disorder in China, with
banditry and vandalism and all sorts of danger. And there
was still a lot of suspicion of (and therefore danger to)
foreigners. Sun Yat Sen and his revolutionary forces started
in Canton. The impressions that were left with him lasted
the rest of his life and influenced many of his later policies
and practices of feeding people who were hungry. The
family stayed in China this second time for two years
(1910-1912) and then (Donald thinks) they had to return to
California after receiving word from managers with whom
they had left the business that a fierce competitor (a Boos
Bros. cafeteria) had moved into the street-level space above
Clinton’s basement location, threatening the survival of E.J.
Clinton’s restaurants. They urged E.J. to return because they
were in trouble. The whole family returned.
In 1912 E.J. (with one or two investors) renamed
Dennets the Quaker Company and first introduced an
adaptation of cafeteria-style food service (which had been
pioneered by others). The Quaker Co. was later renamed
Clinton Cafeteria Company.
When he was in California, Clifford grew up in
Berkeley, always living in the same house at 1907 Haste
Street. This house was owned by his grandma Hall, and Don
was born there and visited it through the years. The house
has been torn down but for many years it was a fraternity
house.
Clifford never went to high school or college; a year or
two after returning from his second trip to China, Clifford
left school in the 8th grade at about age 12-15 and went to
work as a storekeeper for his dad; he ordered and stored the
groceries and foods that were to be used in the restaurant.
Clifford worked in the back while his father was out front,
dressed beautifully and with the guests / customers. His
daddy’s business was across the bay in San Francisco. His
father commuted to and from business every day on the
ferry boat.
While in China, Clifford learned to speak a little
Chinese–a few words and phrases, which he later taught his
own children. He could also count to 10 or 20. He loved
MEALS FOR MILLIONS, SOY, AND FREEDOM FROM HUNGER 167
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Chinese food and later he often took his own family to
Chinese restaurants.
Q: Why did he leave school so early? Ans: He was a
slow learner, he wasn’t doing too well at school, and he had
a desire to get busy (he had worked some summer vacations
with his father in the business). But he had a good mind,
and from an early age he had a mentor–his uncle–his
mother’s brother, Burton Hall, who was a professor of
history at the nearby University of California at Berkeley.
Clifford’s wife, Nelda, was the youngest child in her family.
Burton encouraged Clifford in his school, in his continuing
learning and reading and philosophizing and all of the other
arts that went with these things. He continued to mentor
Clifford until the 1920s, when he died. He was a significant
influence in Clifford’s relational ability and continued
learning. Clifford then went on to be quite a reader. He read
a lot of Edgar Guest, the legendary five foot shelf of
knowledge (also known as the Harvard Classics, a 51volume
anthology of classic works from world literature,
compiled and edited by Harvard University president
Charles W. Eliot and first published in 1910). He did a
tremendous amount of reading. As a boy, Donald
remembers him reading all of the Fortune magazines, many
business magazines, and many restaurant trade journals.
Continued.
367. Clinton, Donald. 2010. From the life of Clifford E.
Clinton (Interview) (Continued–Part II, 1928-1934).
SoyaScan Notes. Dec. 19. Compiled by William Shurtleff of
Soyfoods Center.
• Summary: After World War I, Clifford returned to
Berkeley and continued to work at his father’s cafeteria
company in San Francisco. Clifford met Nelda Patterson in
Berkeley at the Church of the Nazarene which she attended
regularly.
Note: This church is an evangelical Christian
denomination that emerged from the 19th century Holiness
movement (Methodist) in North America with its members
colloquially referred to as Nazarenes. It is the largest
Wesleyan holiness denomination in the United States.
He was attending the Church of the Nazarene because
his parents took him there and he was aware that the
Patterson family was active in that church. The parents on
both sides may have helped bring the two young people
together. Nelda had only one sibling, Stephen, a younger
brother.
Clifford and Nelda were married in Berkeley on 7 Sept.
1920. They decided to get married in the Friend’s Church
[Quaker Meeting House] in Berkeley as it was neutral
ground for several members of the family.
They rented their first home on Milvia Street (Don
doesn’t have a number). After a few months they decided to
make payments to purchase the Milvia St. house rather than
to rent. They had their first child there, Edmond J., in 1921.