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Pressley sees baby photo after 86 years
Cling Pressley of Cullowhee opened a letter from one of his South Carolina cousins a few months ago and found a photo of himself he'd never seen before.
Taken in July 1918, when Cling, now 87, was 1 year old, the photo (left, with an inset of a recent picture) shows a happy toddler sitting on a grassy lawn.
"My mother made that little hat I'm wearing," Cling said last week when he brought the photo by The Herald.
While Cling knew about the hat, he never knew of the photo's existence until Dora Lee Smith of Anderson, S.C., Cling's first cousin, mailed it to him.
Turns out that Cling's mother, Mary Ashe Pressley, had mailed the photo off to her sister-in-law Agnes Pressley a few days after it was taken. Agnes was married to Cling's father's (Jake Pressley) brother Andrew, and the couple settled in Piedmont, S.C., where Agnes was raised. When Dora Lee was going through her mother's things, she found Cling's photo and mailed it back home to Pressley Creek.
Seeing the photo again triggered a flood of memories for Cling, who still makes his home in the Cullowhee community where he grew up.
The fourth child of Jake and Mary, Cling Pressley married Mary Ellen Pierce in 1939, and the two were together until her death in May 2003. Cling shared the story behind the nuptials.
"We'd been acquainted for three years, but we'd never courted," Cling said. "Then one day I saw her on the church steps and asked where she was going. She said she was going home so I went with her. We decided six months later that we'd get married. Angus Tolbert took me and her in his truck out to where Cole Gibson had a sawmill on Wilson Creek. We stood on either side of a hemlock log that was about 4 feet through and said our vows."
Gospel singing has always been a big part of his life. Cling learned to sing by attending singing schools held at various homes in the community. Instructors at those sessions included shape-note teachers Oscar Ashe, Jim Raby, Sam Fox and Vernon Hoyle, Cling said.
After he got married he formed a gospel group – the Pressley Quartet – that included Joe and Ray Pressley and Thelmalene Jones. The group sang all over Jackson, Swain and Macon counties in churches and at funerals, he said, and once sang on a program with Hovie Lesser and the Statesmen Quartet. Cling's group also performed with Gene Blackwood and the Blackwood Boys and appeared at Singing in the Smokies, hosted by Martin Cook of Caney Fork and the Inspirations. All in all, Cling said, he spent more than 60 years as a gospel singer.
Another of Cling's claims to fame is as the originator of Pressley's Beagle Club, a group that has consistently produced champions. Cling raised a 1968 state champion, Charlie's Ranger, and sons Ray and Clarence and grandson Mike teamed up to produce a national champion, Pacer.
According to Cling, Ray raised Pacer but traded him to Clarence and Mike the day he won the championship.
Cling earned his living as an electrician at Western Carolina University, a job he held for 32 years. Skills he learned there came in handy back when Speedwell Baptist added a basement Sunday school classroom and paved its parking lot. Cling was chairman of the building committee during that time and oversaw the construction. He also wired the church for electric heat.
Many others contributed to the church project, Cling said, adding that Grady Cline, Dave Woodard, Eddie Stillwell and Grady Parker played major roles. He also expressed appreciation to the Rev. Roger Stewman, Speedwell's pastor at that time.
Cling also remembers with fondness those he worked for at Western, including the late Cotton Robinson, Frank Brown Jr. and Harley Shelton. He also said he appreciates former WCU physical plant director Jim Culp of Sylva, who has been a real friend.
Looking back over his life spent along one Cullowhee creek, Cling said he's grateful for all his neighbors, both at church and around his house.
"If you haven't got friends, you haven't got nothing," Cling said. "I just thank the Lord for letting me live this long with all my friends and neighbors."
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