Mr. Dervis Clement Tippen

Class of '52 Mr. Dervis Clement Tippen

Class of ?52 In rural Louisiana in the 1950s the six children of the Butler family lose their mother to death, and their father, although very much alive, is caught up in the daily battle of providing for his brood and has to rely on his children to manage the responsibilities of their home life. With most of them the trust is well deserved, but with others it is misplaced, and their father?s preoccupation with his job allows those few to take advantage of the younger, weaker siblings. By the time the father is aware of the power struggle at home, the harm has been done, some of it never to be repaired. The story, while focusing on the tribulations of one family, clearly echoes the common threads of life found throughout the South in the middle of the twentieth century: economic hardship, close ties through community, faith in God and fellow man, and belief in the promise that better days lie ahead.