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Beth Clements and her husband stood shoulder to shoulder at the edge of their lawn as the sun set.
The gridlocked traffic of a busy Morgantown evening rushed below the calm,
color-filled sky.
Behind the couple, a neighborhood welcoming party of more than 50
celebrated and reminisced.
For the two minutes the couple spent together, they stared into the sunset.
It may be the only quiet time the two had during the day.
Since becoming West Virginia University’s president in June, James P. Clements has had less time to devote to his wife, Beth, and their children, making each moment the couple has together more treasured.
"There are days I literally don’t hear from him, and I know it’s just an intense day. That’s just the way it goes," Beth said. "Every once in awhile, I’ll get a cute ‘I love you, first lady’ (text). We do that, just a ‘hey, we’re thinking about each other.’"
President Clements starts his day at 7:10 a.m. at the Student Recreation Center for a workout.
When he arrives at his office in Stewart Hall, he has only mere minutes to check e-mail and answer phone calls before heading to meetings.
Interviews, luncheons and speeches clutter his afternoon. Dinners are often spent with business partners and donors. When a typical workday ends at 6 p.m., Jim still has an evening meeting and hours of e-mails to respond to before bed.
On a good day, the president said he has 20 minutes here or a half-hour there to read his children a bedtime story or talk to his wife about his day.
Beth "turned blue and gold overnight," after becoming a representative of the University as its first lady.
Her days are filled with driving her three girls to and from school and practices, meetings regarding upcoming WVU events and meetings with deans and faculty. Her evenings are usually devoted to her family.
As a mother of a 17-year-old boy living in Maryland, a set of twins and a child with special needs, Beth shaped her life around caring for her children.
She received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in reading from Towson University, where she met her husband of 19 years. She chose to leave her career as a teacher and focus on raising Tyler, 17, Hannah and Maggie, 14, and Grace, 9.
"I love what I do. I love the mom part, I love being a representative of the University. I love what Jim is doing," Beth said. "I feel like this is the perfect job for me."
Finishing out his senior year at Glenelg High School, Tyler is staying in the Clements’ old house in Howard County, Md., with Beth’s niece until the school year is over. In the fall, Tyler wants to attend WVU and study business.
"Beth and I would only let our son stay back if it’s going to be OK. And we know it’s going to be OK," President Clements said. "He’s a good kid, teachers love him, neighbors love him, everyone is looking out for him."
Neighbors and family check on Tyler throughout the day and keep and eye on his meal choices. If given the choice, Beth said, he would probably eat at McDonald’s or Taco Bell three times a day.
Tyler travels to Morgantown on some weekends, and on the others, the family visits him. He sets aside time for his sisters when visiting. He took his sisters to the Student Recreation Center during his visit last week, Beth said, and also made a trip to West Virginia for Hannah and Maggie’s Homecoming.
"If we still lived together, he’d be blowing them off a little more. He misses them," Beth said. "That’s the hardest part. We’ve given up a year, actually, of everyday parenting with him. In the beginning, it just felt so unnatural to me to be here and have him there. Even though I love it here, I still miss him."
On the weekdays, Beth text messages Tyler in the morning, and Tyler calls after school is out and before he goes to sleep.
"Sometimes I think we share more conversation on the phone than we would if we were in the same house. Seventeen-year-old boys aren’t that talkative," Beth said. "Now that I’m not there every day, I actually feel like, like anything else, we just treasure each other more."
Tyler especially misses his relationship with Grace, Beth said. Grace, the family’s youngest child, has Apraxia, a neurological disorder limiting her ability to speak.
With a "Vantage Lite," Grace can talk and express herself. The voice output device has the capability to be programmed to any child’s specific needs.
"A lot of parents don’t want to use them because they feel like they’ve given up on their child, and that they won’t talk," Beth said. "Jim and I see it as a tool to show the world that our daughter is smart. She just has a hard time expressing herself verbally."
Tyler is involved in "Best Buddies" in his high school, where a general education student is paired with a student who has special needs.
They are involved in group activities and one-on-one activities in order to learn from each other.
His involvement, according to Beth, is inspired in part by his relationship with his youngest sister.
"It’s more intense than a typical bother/sister relationship, and probably because they are eight years apart and because she does have special needs," Beth said.
Grace requires a lot of attention and energy compared to the other Clements children, Beth said. For that reason, she doesn’t work full-time and isn’t thinking of going back into teaching any time soon.
"I didn’t want to go and choose (a career) that was going to drain me, so by the time she came home, I was tired," Beth said. "Raising a child with special needs is very different than raising a typical child."
For additional support, Beth created a Bible study group at her church in Maryland for mothers who have children with special needs.
"We became like sisters," Beth said. "We supported each other, and we really understood each other on a different level."
One of the most difficult things for Beth when moving to Morgantown was leaving those friends in Maryland.
Enjoying the depth of friendship is something she misses, though she’s meeting others now through tennis and church.
"I love it here. I’m happy. I don’t want to move back, but I miss my friends," Beth said.
Her twin girls, Hannah and Maggie, feel the same way, she added.
"Sometimes, they’ll love it, and then other times, they’ll say ‘I miss my friends in Maryland,’ but that’s very normal," she said. "I know it was a hard adjustment for them, but they do have each other, and I love that they do."
Hannah and Maggie joined the junior varsity volleyball team at Morgantown High School and have made friends with their new classmates.
They recently made the freshman basketball team, as well.
Beth said despite the Clements’ busy schedule, there is always time for family.
"Jim’s career is very important, but (their children) more important," she said. "I need to finish what I started, which is raising these guys."
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