Mary Barris reminisces Wednesday about the various types of colored glass that once graced the circular window in the stairwell of her aunt Marjorie Clagetts home at 1645 Chestnut St. Clagett left the house (top) to her nieces Mary Barris and Peggy Clagett after her death in 2000. The Barrises are now renovating the house, which was built in the 1890s. Photo by Miranda Pederson

Mary Barris, the wife of former The Gong Show host Chuck Barris, stood in the old house at 1645 Chestnut St. and talked about her childhood memories there. It was my aunt Kate Duncans birthday, she said Wednesday. We sang Happy Birthday to her in French and ate cake and ice cream with chopsticks. They were ebony with mother of pearl. I was messing with those (chopsticks) today, trying to get them in my hair. And we used to come over for little tea parties. Aunt Marjorie (Clagett, who lived in the house from her birth in 1900 until she died there in 2000) always had birthday parties for her friends. Barris, who now lives in a penthouse in New York City, and her siblings were often invited. She walked through the run-down, gray, two-story house, which she and her husband are having renovated. Mary Barris aunt Marjorie left the house to her and sister, Peggy Clagett of Georgia. Im very sentimental, Barris said. I couldnt be happier. I think its the sweetest thing in the world to pass down a house through a family. The house was built in the late 1800s by Barris great-grandfather, John Henry Clagett, a professor of literature at Western Kentucky University. John Henry and his wife, Maggie Northcott, had three children one of whom was Marys grandfather, Argo. Barris told the story of how Maggie Northcott died when her youngest child, Kate, was a baby. There was a diphtheria epidemic, she said. There was one dose of serum left. Maggie thought she wasnt as ill as young Kate, who also was stricken with diphtheria, so she left the serum for the baby. It wasnt long before Maggie grew worse and died. Kate survived to become Kate Duncan. But long before that, after Maggies death, John Henry sent his children to Leitchfield to be cared for. Later, he married Hattie Strange Cook, who took his children in as her own. The children loved their new mother, Barris said. And it wasnt long before Hattie and John Henry had a child, Marjorie Clagett, together. Most people in Bowling Green who remember the old Clagett house associate it with Miss (Marjorie) Clagett. For years, the life-long single woman, who had studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, taught French at WKU. She always wore a beret and a French twist, as if she was going to teach school, Barris said. Miss Clagett documented wildflowers all over southcentral Kentucky and other parts of the United States. Around the Chestnut Street home, she cultivated a grove of pawpaw trees, from which she ate fruit until her death. As far as plain health is concerned, Clagett told the Daily News in 2000, the food we ate was of a vegetable nature. I hate to think of what my life would have been like if I had lived somewhere else. Barris has kept some of Clagetts beloved pawpaw trees, although she has eliminated the grove because the trees in it were too close together and some of them had become blighted. But well have pawpaws again, she said. She joked about her aunts great pawpaw love. She was pretty stingy with her pawpaws, she said. She said her aunt used to throw pawpaw seeds in the yard so more pawpaw trees would spring up. Later, Barris peeked out a window and showed the spot where her grandfather, Argo, at 9, dug holes for buttercups with silver spoons. Those buttercups still come up, she said. But soon, theyll be beside a home that is much different inside than the one Argo, Marjorie and their siblings knew. Weve had to take out all the plaster, Barris said. In places, it was falling apart. Parts of it had been covered with paneling. Now, those walls are gone and visitors can see from one end of the house to the other through boards. But the old pocket doors remain in place, as does a unique, three-sided fireplace and an old oak staircase. The homes poplar floors are in good shape downstairs, and have been covered to protect them from construction. Its a great house, said Harlan Construction owner Steve Harlan, who is renovating the home for Barris, with whom he went to Bowling Green High School. Its getting better all the time. Harlan started working on the house in the fall. In the process, he has added new windows because the ones that were there were so drafty that Clagett had to staple plastic over them to keep the wind out. Hes also added a full bath, sitting area and laundry room to the houses downstairs. Soon, much more will be included. The house is in dire need of modernizing. But some of the old features, including doors that are in good enough shape to reuse, will be refinished and hung once again. By fall, the house should be completed. Then, she can begin decorating. Her sister, who works full time, cant help much, and has left much to Barris discretion. But she hasnt thought about decorating. In addition to redoing the old Clagett house, she and her husband are renovating a small Dutch Colonial on the Hudson River. Working to renovate two homes takes a lot of time, she said. But its something she said she adores. Thats why shes rented an apartment in Bowling Green, where her mother, Margaret Clagett, still lives. Barris spends about a week here every month. Eventually, she and her husband who spends much time writing may call Bowling Green home. A book Chuck Barris wrote about his life became the movie Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, which was produced by George Clooney. If I live long enough, Ill probably end up here full time, she said. Until then, shes looking forward to the day when she can sleep in her Aunt Marjories home for the very first time in her life. I cant wait, she said.