Odessa McClain was born January 31, 1892, to John and Fannie Looney McClain in Missouri. Prior to 1913, she married James Erwin Thornton, son of Allen "Tobe" and Sallie Miller Thornton. Allen was the son of Robert Benton and Elizabeth Smith Thornton. James and Odessa had three daughters: Ruth Esther, born January 5, 1913; Leona Mildred, January 6, 1914; and Elsie Lee, April 14, 1918. Prior to James's death just after World War I, the family lived in Big Hill, Osage, Oklahoma. James died in 1920; afterwards, Odessa lived in the home of her sister-in-law, Gertrude Thornton Looney who married Odessa's uncle William Walter Looney. Odessa met Stillman Atley Wilkerson (1887-1962), and the two married and moved to Perryton, Ochiltree County, Texas. Odessa gave birth to a son: Stillman Jr. Before her death in 1990 in Amarillo, Texas, she was married to Delmar Rutledge.
In the above photo, she is posed with her three daughters, approximately in 1920/21.
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