Love stories: LaShaws shaped by shared experiences

A creek runs through the land, beautifully scarring the terrain. The land in Rockford was homesteaded by the LaShaws and is where Clem and Gen LaShaw live.

As the land has gained character from the scarring of the creek and from years of farming, Clem’s character is also carved by scars of the emotional kind from the time he spent in the war. “There’s nothing good about a war … brings tears to my eyes,” he said. From the experience, he brought back nervous energy and Gen, the love of his life.

After spending two years in the South Pacific from 1942 to 1944, Clem, a Marine, was sent to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, where he attended a Marine vs. Navy football game. Sitting next to him was a lovely lady in a Marine Corps uniform, Genevieve Fougera, who was loudly rooting for the Navy team.

“I couldn’t understand why she was rooting for the Navy. Later she informed me that her brother was in the Navy.” They spent the game playfully poking each other with their elbows when the other would cheer. The Navy team won the game.

He walked her back to her barracks that night and asked for a date. That was in October 1944. In April 1945, he asked for her hand in marriage and they were married at the base chapel on May 18.

After the horrors of war, Clem needed companionship and Gen needed someone who could make her laugh. “We laugh a lot,” Gen said. Clem agreed and points out how his hands shake a bit. “I’m a nervous cat as you can see. With us both being in the service, she’s got an understanding.” He doesn’t speak about it and she doesn’t ask questions because she understands.

After they were discharged from the service, they headed to Boston where Gen had roots. In October 1946 they had their first child and, six months later, they moved to the farmhouse in Rockford where he farmed and she raised their daughters. “I didn’t want a boy,” Clem said, “because I would never want him to experience war. It just so happened we had five girls.”

Gen canned, cooked and sewed. “She also drove truck for me. We worked hard together 24 hours a day,” Clem said as he offered up his German chocolate cupcakes. “I do the baking.”

Besides sharing in household duties, the couple also gives credit to their ability to work things out for a lasting relationship. “We’ve never gone to bed angry and have managed to avoid big fights by not holding a grudge and not making mountains out of mole hills,” Clem said, adding that a decision was never made without asking the other.

Gen is quiet and Clem talks a lot. His mix of nervous energy and satisfaction from a life well-led is entertaining as he explained, “I’ll give her one of my peas if it looks like I have a larger portion … life is dull if you can’t laugh and make jokes without obscenities of course and I kiss her every morning and sometimes in the middle of a conversation I’ll give her a little peck. There’s so much you can do for each other.”

They have led a simple and satisfying life, never living beyond their means and content to stay close to home. “We traveled enough in the service,” Clem said.

Now they are settled comfortably in a house they built on the homestead in the 1970s. Large mounted trophy animals decorate the home including a 160-pound cougar. “I called her every night when I went hunting,” he said.

Today, they enjoy dinners out and playing the slots at the casino, going to a wellness center in Plummer, Idaho, to work out three days a week, going to church every Sunday, and talking about their daughters, nine grandkids and 11 great-grandkids.

“We give them good advice like – learn to walk before you run,” Clem said, “Look down the road … enjoy life and your environment.”