Milford chronicle., 1961-12-29
Miss Ala CIoryIs Retiring
By MARTHA COLE

| WASHINGTON (AP) - AS Con-
gress goes into a new session, q
gray-haired woman in a back Of
flee of the Capitol is packing up
| to leave.
81 could have retired 10 years
ago, but | wasn't going to do it
as long as Mr.. Rayburn was speak
err" she says.
This is Miss ALA Clary, 72 years
old and still busy, who worked for
| Sam Rayburn, the congressman
from her Texas district, for ~
years-41 of them as his secretary
Her boss died Nov Is.
When the news came over her
car radio that Rayburn had in
durable cancer, Miss Clary was on
one of her many automobile trips,
this time n Wyoming d
| Colorado. She drove Immediately
to Texas to see him.
We'll, my little girl is here at
last" Rayburn said when she
came
"And my nephew said, little girl,
humph'," Miss Clary remembers
All through the years, there
was a sort of old-fashioned, for
NAL, boss-secretary relationship
between the Speaker and his sec
retary
He always called her IN s S
Clary," and she always called him
Mr.. Rayburn," though in speak
ing of him to others sometimes
she said "the boss" and still does.
Back in 1925, he gave her a pic
ture of himself inscribed For
Miss Clary with sincere regards.
Sam Rayburn.'
Then q years later, in 1916, he
gave her another picture of him
self with a bit warmer inscription
which, for Sam Rayburn, appeared
downright sentimental. 1t said:
ITO ALA Clary with affectionate
| regards of Sam Rayburn."
That's all he ever gave her She
seemed to think it foolish to ask
about gifts
He just gave me a good job
; a good boss" Miss Clary says.
You just couldn't work for him
and not be loyal to him"
| Mr.. Sam Rayburn had a sense
to do what is best He made up his
mind what he was going to do He
didn't answer all the propaganda
that came in his office
He had that sense of integrity
and how to get along, and honesty,
from the time he was born"
AS a boss, she says, he was con-
siderate.
| Just last year she took several
months off to make trip around
the world on a cargo liner-she
told that somebody commented to
Mr.. Rayburn about her taking off
during a congressional session
And he replied: Anybody who's
worked for me for over 40 years
deserves a vacation like that"
Miss Clary was born in the little
town of Mckinney in North Texas
but grew up on farm at the still
smaller town of Prosper, Texas.
She Took Civil Service Exam
She picked and chopped cotton
to make money to go to high
school. $50 l came up the hard
way" she says.
She went to old North Texas
State Normal and then taught
school in Texas for eight years
But l got tired of teaching on
$50 a month"
SO she took the civil service
exam and came to Washington in
1918 to work in the old War de-
partment. One of the first things
she. did was to go see her con-
gressman whom she had never
met-Sam Rayburn of Bonham,
Texas
AT the War department, she got
tired of sitting and typing cards.
80 l resigned" When she was
ready to leave, she went by Ray
burns office to say goodbye He
called the next week and asked
her to work for him. She did
So AZ years later, Miss Clary
has come to the end of a secre-
tary's job.
The next thing planned is a So
day Mediterranean cruise. starting
Feb. 14th After that? I've got