Posted on 07/10/2006 10:25:24 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
HOPE, Ark.
Autrilla Scott readily agreed when Roger Clinton, co-owner of the Buick dealership here in the late 1940s, asked if she would watch his girlfriend's little boy Billy for a time while they went on a date.
Scott was born and reared in Hope, the daughter of Mary Ella and Louis Watkins. She was the youngest of seven siblings and grew up across the street from Yerger School. While a teenager, Scott cleaned houses and babysat.
"When I was cleaning Roger Clinton's apartment one day, he came by with a little boy about two or three years-old and asked me if I could babysit him for a short time while he and the child's mother, Virginia Blythe, went on a date," she said. "I told him yes, that I could."
After that initial contact with little Billy Blythe, Scott babysat the child many times. After Roger Clinton and Virginia Blythe married, Billy Blythe eventually took his stepfather's last name, becoming William Jefferson Clinton. Years later, the child from Hope was elected 42nd president of the United States.
"I remember him when he was just a little boy, playing in the yard, enjoying himself," Scott said.
But that was not the only contact her family had with the Clintons. Her brother, Hosea Watkins, owned the Blue Room barbecue stand across the street from the auto dealership that Roger Clinton and his brother owned. Roger would frequent the stand quite often and they became friends.
After Scott babysat and cleaned houses and apartments through high school, she graduated in 1950. She went to business school and married Olen Scott. They eloped and went to Delano, Calif., moving to Long Beach in 1955.
She underwent nurse's training in the late 1950s and began working as a licensed vocational nurse for the Veterans Administration in 1961. She retired as a rehab nurse in 1991.
Scott has two children, son Olen Scott, who lives in Anaheim, Calif., and daughter, Sharon McLucas, who lives in Signal Hill, Calif. Scott has five grandchildren.
"I have always babysat for kids and enjoyed them," Scott said. "I got to meet President Clinton when he came to Long Beach a few years back. It was just a thrill to finally get to see him again.
"I received an invitation to his inauguration in 1993, but it came too late in the mail. I was just sick about that, but it turned out all right in the end."
Scott was back in Hope recently to attend the Yerger School reunion. Those ties to Yerger and the former president are still close to her heart.
While Scott was back in Arkansas, Clinton arranged for her to attend a VIP tour of the Presidential Center in Little Rock.
"I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and seeing all the Clinton memorabilia," she said.
The last I heard, military records showed that his named father was actually overseas at the time of conception.
Autrilla Watkins Scott. Autrilla is a life member of the National Council of Negro Women. She's a native of Hope, Arkansas.
Autrilla Scott. Autrilla is a southern name from Arkansas. I moved to Delano, California in 1950 and in 1955, my husband and two children, and I moved to LongBeach, California, where I started getting involved in being a volunteer in the community. Iwould help register people from our community to vote. This was at a time when not everybodyhad the right vote.
"I remember him when he was just a little boy, playing doctor with all the little girls in the neighborhood, exposing himself..."
Meanwhile, somewhere in Illinois, a young girl dreamed that she, too, could have a name one day. "If only someone could become famous climbing a mountain, I could stop being called 'Hey you.'"
We must be in Arkansas!
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