6.1.2.2. Clement G. Motten (1917-2002)

Clement Gile Motten (1917 ~ 2002)

6.1.2.2. Second child of Roger H. Motten and Jessie C. Barclay, Clement Gile Motten, was born February 16, 1917, in Colorado Springs, Col., U.S.

He married Louise Elizabeth Fewell, daughter of Alexander Garrison Fewell and Alice Eastland Urquhart, June 14, 1941, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. and had four children:

(6.1.2.2.1) Alexander Fewell (1949 ~ )
(6.1.2.2.2) Alice Urquhart (1951 ~ )
(6.1.2.2.3) Elizabeth Crossan (1953 ~ )
(6.1.2.2.4) Luisa Barclay (1961 ~ )

Clement G. Motten died January 17, 2002, aged 84 years in Haverford, Pennsylvania and Louise E. Fewell Motten died November 10, 1990, aged 73 years in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.

----- MARRIAGE -----

Motten—Fewell

Miss Louise Elizabeth Fewell, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Alexander G. Fewell of Philadelphia, Pa., became the bride Saturday, June 14, 1941, of Mr. Clement Gile Motten, son of Mr. and Mrs. Roger H. Motten of Wethersfield, in a 4:30 ceremony performed by Rev. B. Janney Rudderow in the Trinity Memorial Church, Philadelphia.

Escorted to the altar and given in marriage by her father, the bride wore a full-skirted gown of ivory satin cut en train with the waist and sleeves made of old family lace. Her veil of Milan lace was worn by the bride’s mother and grandmother at their weddings. White roses, orchids and bouvardia comprised the bridal bouquet.

The matron of honor, Mrs. Richard Lloyd Willing, wore a gown of aquamarine marquisette, and her short veil, which was held in place by a tiara of flowers, matched her dress. She carried pink roses. The bridesmaids, Miss Mary Rebecca Cregar, Miss Florence P. Scott, Miss Marie M. de Benneville, Miss Katherine A. Reuss, Miss Elizabeth J. McBlane, all of Philadelphia and Miss Emily Jane Motten of Wethersfield, sister of the bridegroom, were all gowned like the matron of honor, only in dusty rose. Their bouquets of pink roses and larkspur were tied with aquamarine ribbon.

Mr. Roger H. Motten, Jr., of Farmington Avenue was best man for his brother, and the corps of ushers included Mr. Richard A. Fewell and Mr. J. William U. Fewell, brothers of the bride, Mr. Robert J. Cunningham of Cambridge, Mass., Mr. Theodore Weber of Medford, Mass., and Mr. George E. S. Tetlow of Hartford.

The House of the Colonial Dames in Philadelphia was decorated with ferns and white roses for the reception. When the couple left on a wedding trip to Mexico, the bride was wearing a gray and red print dress with a small red hat and a short cape of gray fur.

Mrs. Motten attended Chatham Hall and the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Motten was educated at Trinity College. Hartford Courant, June 15, 1941.

----- OBITUARIES -----

Clement G. Motten

Clement G. Motten, 84, of Haverford, Penn., who developed the Latin American studies program at Temple University and was a member of the faculty there for 39 years, died of heart failure at his home last Thursday, January 17, 2002.

Dr. Motten was raised in Colorado and in Connecticut and received a bachelor’s degree from Trinity College in Connecticut in 1938. He met his future wife, Louise Fewell, while on a youth hostel biking trip through Europe in 1936. They both enrolled in graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania. She earned a master’s degree in history and he earned a doctorate in education. The couple married in 1941 and spent their honeymoon in Mexico.

Their daughter Elizabeth said, “Mexico claimed their lifelong interests.” They returned there often during their 49-year marriage and visited other Latin American countries as well.

Dr. Motten joined the faculty of Temple to teach Latin American history in 1946, the year before he received his doctorate. In 1959, he received a Fulbright Scholarship to study at the University of Havana.

As a teacher and writer, he specialized in Latin American intellectual history. Among the many books he wrote was Mexican Silver and the Enlightenment, an account of a Spanish expedition to Mexico in 1778.

At Temple he developed a program in Latin American studies and received the Lindback Award for distinguished teaching in 1967.

He taught at Temple’s Rome campus from 1975 to 1977 and also taught at St. Joseph University and lectured at several Latin American universities.

In 1983, he became the first director of the Center for Inter-American Studies at Temple. He was named professor emeritus of Latin American history in 1985.

He was cofounder of the Middle American Council of Latin American Studies and was a fellow of the Organization of American States.

He and his wife also traveled through Africa and Europe, often leading student groups. In 1991, the American Youth Hostel Association established an award in their name to be given annually for distinguished leadership.

Elizabeth Motten said that after moving to the Quadrangle retirement community in Haverford from his longtime home in Lansdowne eight years ago, her father continued to lecture on South America and present slide shows of photos taken on his trips. He also collected folk art from around the world.

In addition to his daughter Elizabeth, he is survived by daughters Alice and Luisa; a son Alexander; and two grandsons. His wife died in 1990.

A funeral service will be private.

Memorial contributions can be made to The Clem and Louise Motten Fund, American Youth Hostel, 733 15th N.W., Suite 840, Washington D.C. 20001. Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 24, 2002.

Louise E. Fewell Motten

July 25, 1917 ~ November 10, 1990

Louise Fewell Motten, a professor’s wife with a knack for spotting homesick American students abroad during her extensive travels and inviting them into the family circle, died Saturday, November 10, 1990. She was 73 and lived in Lansdowne, Delaware County.

Many students called the Mottens their “home away from home,” during studies in foreign lands, said Motten’s husband, Clement, professor emeritus of Latin American history at Temple University.

The Mottens traveled and lived over the years in Mexico, South America and Europe and Motten “learned the signs” of homesick young Americans abroad, her husband said.

“She’d go over and say, ‘How are things you like to have dinner with us?’

“We always had foreign students around here when we were home.”

The Mottens’ Lansdowne home was often filled with American students taking crash courses in Spanish at Temple in which they were permitted to speak no English.

“On about every third Friday, she would have what we called a fiesta,” Motten said. She would introduce them to a whole new series of Latin American cooking, Argentinian, then three weeks later, Chilean.

“They’d look at (a dish) and say, ‘What’s that?’ But they learned to love it.”

The Mottens met on an American Youth Hostels bicycle trip to Europe in 1936, and didn’t initially hit it off, Motten said.

“Louise was a Philadelphia debutante,” said her husband. She had studied at the Agnes Irwin School, the Institute of Tourraine in France and the University of Pennsylvania. She made her social debut during the 1935-36 season.

“I was from New England, where life was simple.

“But we found that we…worked very well together. And we decided to make it permanent.

“We went full cycle, from youth hostel to Elderhostel.”

In recent years the Mottens traveled to Britain, Western Europe and Turkey, with other senior citizens, as part of the Elderhostel program, studying the arts and other aspects of other cultures. They also made three safaris in East Africa.

“Wherever we traveled, the kids went with us” during their youth, Motten said.

He said his wife prided herself on her role as a homemaker and the fact that when their four children came home from school, she was there to greet them.

She also was a civic volunteer and maintained a lifelong interest in Girl Scouting, prompted by her childhood involvement with the troop that originated the idea of raising money by selling homemade cookies.

Besides her husband, she is survived by a son, Alexander F.; three daughters, Alice U., Elizabeth C., and Luisa B.; two grandsons; and a brother, Dr. John William Fewell.

Services and burial private.

Contributions in her name may be made to St. John the Evan-gelist Episcopal Church, Lansdowne, Pa. 19050, the Girl Scouts of Delaware County, 594 S. New Middletown Road, Media, Pa. 19063, or the Nationalities Services Center, 1300 Spruce St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19107. Philadelphia Daily News, Nov. 12, 1990.