Clarence & Pearl Nolan

Clarence and Pearl Nolan

October 8, 1930

reverse

(The Calin Coburn Collections ©)

Clarence, as Bob Nolan was known then, had no time to attend university because a very pretty co-ed four years his junior began to figure largely in his life. They spent a noticeable amount of time together in High School - so noticeable that a photo of the two of them appeared in the school yearbook. They married on July 7, 1928, less than two months after Bob's graduation from Grade 12. They lied on the marriage license; Bob declared he was 22 and Pearl that she was 18. She also spelled her surname wrong.

Just who was Tennie Pearl Fields, Bob Nolan's first wife? When they were married, she was still a schoolgirl, barely 16 years old and Bob was just 20. Pearl was born on May 3, 1912, to Franklin Smallwood Fields and Irene Isabelle Johnson Fields in Cameron, Texas. She was the youngest of three girls and her father made his living as a Rawleigh's salesman.

A daughter, Roberta Irene, was born to Clarence and Pearl thirteen months after they were married but the marriage had foundered almost from the beginning. They remained together for seven months and then Bob left her. Revealing letters from Pearl to her close friend in Tucson portray a young husband who would not settle down. By her own assessment, Pearl was proud and stubborn, wordy and hot-tempered. "Nolan", as she always called Clarence, was quiet and dreaded conflict. In Pearl's words, he "tired of her" but it was more likely that Clarence was escaping a relationship that had turned into a nightmare. They were both too young, too poor and had too little in common to help them tough it out.

Three months pregnant, Pearl went to live with her parents in Farwell, Texas. Clarence (we'll call him Bob from now on) hopped freight trains back and forth across the country, looking not only for adventure but for work because he hadn't given up on his marriage. He ended up in California seriously considering a career in music, knowing at the same time that a fledgling musician could not support a family. His young wife considered this behaviour to be irresponsible and by May was already considering divorce. Bob wanted a boy and he wanted them to be together as a family but Pearl was afraid to take the chance in case he left her again - "You see, if he got sore he could leave me stranded without any money and with a little baby to care for."

These were difficult decisions for a sixteen-year old to make. She was pregnant and she was having severe kidney problems. Her parents were moving to Virginia shortly after her baby was to be born and Pearl was undecided about accompanying them. She really wanted to go back to Tucson where she had been happy but she wanted Bob to go back with her. She was nervous about going to California with him because she was terribly afraid he would leave her again. Pearl knew and loved Bob's family and was very proud of Bob's brother, Earl. She felt sure that Harry Nolan would look after her and the baby in Tucson. "In California I don't know any one to do that."

Her best friend assured her that Bob "loves you with all his heart. He'll never love anyone else as he does you." This friend both encouraged and discouraged reconciliation between the two. On one hand, she told Pearl that Bob was "big and strong and talented" and then she would remind her that there were more fish in the sea. "Perhaps if you cast your net again and fish with more zeal, you will find a bigger and better fish."

Roberta Irene Nolan was born on August 4, 1929, while Pearl was still living with her parents.

Bob and Pearl were reconciled briefly in Los Angeles in 1930 and then the marriage failed completely in those grim early-Depression days. Pearl left him for good and was back in Nazareth, Texas before April 1931. From then on, she refused to let him see or even correspond with their daughter. Some of Bob's songs reflect the heartsick feeling he had about missing his child's growing-up years. He sent Pearl as much money as he could to help raise little Roberta and, when things were finally going well for him, he sent a regular monthly cheque for $50. After he was on his feet financially, he wrote to Pearl asking if he could have custody of Bobbie because he felt he had more to offer her. Pearl refused.

After Pearl divorced Bob, she remarried and her new husband turned out to be a "poor fish", indeed. The rest of her short life was underscored with bitterness. You wonder how things might have turned out for them if they had managed to stay together for another two years until the Sons of the Pioneers' popularity rocketed and the lack of money became no problem.

In 1944 Pearl finally relented and took Bobbie to see the Pioneers performing at the Oakland, CA, Auditorium. Until that time, Bobbie had been unaware that Bob Nolan was her father. After that first meeting, Bob made sure his daughter had every opportunity to visit him and his second wife; and she did. She became very good friends with both Bob and P-Nuts but she and Bob always regretted the fact that the precious father-daughter bond had never had a chance to grow.

Pearl's second marriage did not work out, either, and she changed her name to Ruth Land - probably a play on her maiden name, Fields. She died of cancer in Oakland, California, on December 31, 1962 at the age of 50.