DR. CHARLEEN LAVERNE McCLANAHAN VARNER; A NASA RESEARCHER IN THE SIXTIES

 

Bob and Charleen McClanahan Varner 1953 Wedding Portrait

 

Today is International Women's Day, so I feel compelled to tell the story of a McClanahan trailblazer, my first cousin, one time removed, who was quite a unique individual! She didn't have children, but was fiercely devoted to her parents, husband, sister, nieces, cousins and other extended family members. Her contributions to her community and country deserve to be remembered. 

Charleen, circa 1942

Charleen LaVerne McClanahan was born on 28 August 1931 near Alba, Missouri, on her parent’s family farm. She would have turned ninety-two years old this year, but sadly, she passed away on 8 March 2019 in Topeka, Kansas. She was a woman who had a great influence upon me during her entire life as an energetic, positive, intelligent role model. She was the most highly-educated member of our family and was a trailblazer as a career woman. She was also fiercely proud of her McClanahan name and heritage.

Twins, Roy Calvin & Rure Alvin McClanahan, 1905
Roy was Charleen's Father

Charleen's Mother Lela Smith McClanahan (right) and her Cousin
Annabelle Smith McClanahan (left) in 1915 at Coon Foot School

Charleen was my dad’s first cousin. Her father Roy and my dad’s father Rure McClanahan were twins. Her mother Lela Smith and my dad’s mother Annabell Smith were first cousins. Both couples had two children born within the space of five years; one with red hair and one with black hair. Roy’s two were girls and Rure’s were boys. The families lived just down the road from one another and made precious childhood memories together.

Charleen at Coon Foot School 1941-42. She is pictured second 
from right in the back row. Sister Kathaleen is third from the left in the back row. 

Charleen’s mother, Lela, was a school teacher and Charleen was a bright young lady. She and her sister Kathaleen walked with their dog, Tuffy, to nearby one-room Coon Foot School where they both excelled. The girls took piano lessons from Arthur Harbison, who came to their house to teach them, and charged 25 cents for each lesson. She and Kathaleen often played piano duets. Charleen later played piano and organ at several churches. The girls were active in the Methodist Church, 4-H, and various school clubs and activities.

 

Charleen as 1952 Homecoming Queen Candidate 
at Kansas State Teacher's College, Pittsburg, KS

Charleen graduated as valedictorian of her Alba High School class in 1949 and began her distinguished academic career in higher education at Joplin Junior College. She spent a year and a half there before completing a Bachelor’s Degree in Vocational Home Economics at Kansas State Teachers College in Pittsburg, Kansas in 1953. She flexed her leadership and social skills at KSTC by membership in many organizations including Phi Upsilon Omicron, serving as a class officer, and being selected as a homecoming queen candidate in both her junior and senior years.

Charleen on the Joplin High School Faculty 1957

After graduation from KSTC, Charleen married Robert Bernard “Bob” Varner on 4 July 1953 in Gulfport, Mississippi. Bob was a Naval Air cadet in Pensacola, Florida, and she took her first job in education teaching first grade in Ferry Pass School in Escambia County. After Bob’s tour of duty in the Navy, she and Bob both taught at Joplin Senior High School when they moved back to Missouri in 1954.  She taught Home Economics and Biology at JHS for five years before accepting a contract to teach at the college level at her alma mater in Pittsburg. Bob continued to teach and coach athletics for nine years at Joplin. She soon earned her M.S. Degree in general Home Economics from the University of Arkansas.

While teaching at Pittsburg between 1959 and 1963, Charleen met the pioneering scientist, Dr. Pauline Beery Mack, at an education conference. Dr. Mack was a chemist and educator who was not a typical woman of the 1950s. She was known for her brilliant scientific mind, innovative research studies, mink stole and white tennis shoes! She was renowned as a mentor for female scientists when the field was dominated by men. Dr. Mack was conducting research for NASA on the effects of orbital space travel on bone density in the human body. It was then unknown if weightlessness and the forced immobility in the tiny space capsules initially used for travel beyond the earth’s atmosphere would result in changes in the calcium content in the bones of astronauts.

Dr. Mack was impressed with Charleen’s personality, work ethic, intelligence, energy and attention to detail. As a result, she offered Charleen a graduate assistant position at Texas Women’s University in Denton, Texas, which would cover all of her expenses to acquire a Doctorate in Nutrition and Foods.

Dr. Mack and a Group of TWU Students Who Conducted Experiments for NASA

Charleen assisted Dr. Mack in several studies at TWU involving the study of prolonged inactivity, such as might be experienced in space travel. Men who matched the height and weight of specific astronauts were kept confined to bed rest where all of their meals and other needs were provided by graduate students. The effect of their immobility on the calcium content of their bones was carefully monitored.

Charleen's name and thesis title in the 1966 Graduation Program at TWU

Most of Charleen’s time and efforts were spent on a study in the mid-1960s to compare the bone density of primates that were sent into orbit with that of earth-dwelling primates. Careful chemical and radiographic analysis measured the calcium retention in bone samples of both test groups. Her doctoral dissertation was entitled, "A Comparison of the Bone Mineral Content of Bones in Macacus Nemestrima Primates as Demonstrated by Radiographic Bone Density and Chemical Analysis Methods.” She received her Ph.D. on 29 May 1966.

After completion of her doctoral studies, Dr. Mack offered Charleen a position at TWU, but she and Bob felt that they should return to southwest Missouri where they would be closer to their aging parents and other family members. She often felt some remorse over her decision to decline such a unique and prestigious job offer in Texas.

Charleen on the Benedictine College Faculty in 1974

Upon their return to Missouri, Charleen accepted a teaching position at Central Missouri State College at Warrensburg and later assumed the role of chairperson of the Home Economics Department at Kansas State Teachers College in Emporia, Kansas in 1972. She also taught at Benedectine College in Atchison, Kansas. She and Bob moved to Kansas City and had a second home in Topeka, Kansas, when she left full-time teaching and decided to go into business as her own boss. She established a successful private consulting company as a registered and licensed dietician for a large clientele of institutions in the Kansas City and Topeka area.

Bob continued to teach history and other subjects while Charleen pursued her career goals. He worked as an adult education instructor at the Juvenile Detention Center in Topeka for a number of years and later was in demand as a substitute teacher in the Topeka Public Schools. He developed dementia in his last years and Charleen juggled the roles of breadwinner and caregiver when she was in her seventies. Bob received respite care through the VA Hospital in Topeka and eventually was a resident in the memory unit of Aldersgate Village Retirement Community. He passed away on 16 September 2011 and is buried in Friends Cemetery in Purcell, Missouri. Bob and Charleen were married for 58 years.

Charleen loved teaching and never completely left the profession until she suffered a serious injury in a fall in 2015 at age 83. She was still teaching as an adjunct professor at satellite locations for two Kansas community colleges when her fall forced to retire in mid-semester.

Charleen and Me in 2014

I enjoyed visiting with Charleen and she was always ready to chat about the McClanahans. Her memory was phenomenal. For example, she could recite the birthdates of all her nieces, nephews, grandnieces, etc. without even blinking an eye. She shared wonderful family memories with me that are now stored in my heart. She described seeing me for the first time when I was only a few weeks old. She told about playing with my dad when they were kids. She talked about my grandparents and great-grandparents and her experiences with them. I will forever miss her lively chatter and the sound of her boisterous guffaws in the middle of her anecdotes!