Early Life, Marriage and Work
Clyde was born in Philadelphia, the son of a Presbyterian minister. He attended Geneva College graduating in the Classics in June 1909. After teaching at several rural schools, including Fargo, North Dakota and Mount Pleasant, Utah, he enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley in 1911. After two years of graduate work he returned to teaching, mostly in northern California, including the towns of McCloud and Weaverville. He taught history, science and Latin. He continued graduate studies at the University of California in Berkeley in 1923 - 1924.
On June 15, 1915, Norman Clyde married Winifred May Bolster in Pasadena, California. She was a nurse at a tuberculosis hospital, and contracted the disease herself at approximately the time of their marriage. After 4 years of suffering she died at age 28 in 1919. His wife's death appears to have profoundly affected him as he moved to the Eastern Sierra to spend much of his latter life alone in the mountains.
He became principal of the high school at Independence, California in 1924, but resigned in 1928. He admitted firing a pistol during a confrontation with some students who allegedly came to vandalize the school on Halloween night. One bullet hit the side of a car carrying eight high school students, but there were no injuries. Clyde said that considerable damage had been done to the school grounds the previous Halloween. He had been issued a license to carry a concealed firearm on February 2, 1928. This was the end of his career as a schoolteacher and principal, as he resigned in exchange for an agreement by the District Attorney not to press charges.
Subsequently he spent his winters as the caretaker of the local lodges, including Glacier Lodge on Big Pine Creek, and a fishing cabin which belonged to Lon Chaney, Sr. He earned some sporadic income as a mountain guide and freelance writer.
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