Big news hit the internet in November 2024 when the world’s tallest woman, Rumeysa Gelgi (7’ 0.7”), and the world’s shortest woman, Jyoti Amge (2’ 0.7”), met for the first time in London to celebrate Guinness World Records Day. Gelgi is a web designer from Turkey and her height is attributed to Weaver syndrome, a rare condition that causes accelerated growth and skeletal deformities. Amge is an actress from India. It took the worldwide web and airplanes to get those two together. (For more about them search YouTube or Google.)

What’s astounding is that in the 1920’s that kind of meeting could have occurred in McCleary with no airplanes or internet involved, but we have no proof that it ever did. Born in 1913 in Oregon, but living in McCleary after 1919, Clarence Chesterfield Howerton (2’ 4”) grew up in the same town as Cecil “Primo” Boling (7’ 8”), who was born in October 1920. Feet apart in height, but only seven years apart in age, there is no proof the two ever met. Some newspapers reported in error that they were both born in McCleary, with some questions about “what’s in the water.”  Even if some news articles claimed they were friends Charles Fattig, local history expert, recorded that Primo told him that he never knew Clarence. Primo told one reporter “many facts written about me are just legends.”

Perhaps one reason they never met was that Clarence, who because of his fragile height, never went to public school while living in McCleary. He stayed home mostly, until his dad entered him into a Vaudeville show at age 10, which then led to a career in the Circus. Although he was only11 the circus billed him as 18 years old, to emphasize his shortness even more. Clarence was billed as the smallest man in the world, using the stage name “Major Mite.”  According to an article by Steve Willis, “Major Mite wasn’t the most talented, but his size made him the star midget for almost 20 years”. Major Mite toured with Barnum and Bailey Circus every summer, but the local newspaper reported him coming home to McCleary when the show was on a break. Eventually he and his mother moved back to Oregon where he died in 1975. So, he was not in McCleary enough for people to get to know him well.

Unlike Clarence, Cecil “Primo” Boling attended school at McCleary Elementary School. His school pictures distinctly pointed out that he was way above average in height. (He looks like he is the teacher, not a student.)   Although Primo also spent a little time in the Circus, his life took a much different course which kept him in the area most of his life. Hating his time in Circus life, he chose instead to pursue his musical talents, playing Saxophone with local bands.

His dream of playing in a big dance band one day started at Elma High School. He talked about one day having a band of his own, made up of all Tall men, “I would call it the “Biggest Band on Earth” he told friends.

Cecil, who preferred the nickname Primo, lived a life full of pain. Foot ulcerations and frequent hospitalizations for infections had Primo wheelchair bound by age 28. He lost his “tallest” status at age 38 when they amputated his legs below the knees. One news article after his surgery reported this about Primo: “Primo Boling, a warm, personable intelligent man, whose only abnormality was his tremendous height was rid of his biggest nemesis.”  It continued with “more than anything I want to earn my own living,” said the soft-spoken giant.” After his surgery he played wheelchair basketball with a Team called the Flyers. Even sitting in a wheelchair, he had a height advantage.

The staff at Mark Reed Hospital in McCleary got to know him well, as even after amputation infections persisted. Linda, who worked at Mark Reed Hospital, told a story in the museum’s newsletter about when Primo got caught in the sprinkler outside the hospital while in his wheelchair, but he was laughing, not mortified like the staff. Everyone who knew him spoke highly of his personality.

The people here knew Primo personally, but not as many knew Clarence unless they followed his career in the circus or on the screen in Little Rascals or the Wizard of Oz (where he played a munchkin). Certainly, the two made a vastly different impression on people. Primo was a ‘gentle giant,’ whereas Major Mite (i.e. Clarence) was anything but gentle, or childlike, except in appearance. He was more of a “firecracker.” 

Major Mite, according to some sources, enjoyed cigars and beer, often yelled obscenities, He would ride into the tavern on his trike and demand to be lifted up on the bar, after which he would run the length of the bar, kicking anything in his way, sometimes dressed in children’s clothes.   Seems he liked the attention of shocking people who expected a vastly different demeanor. He also once tried to join the Army, wanting to be a Paratrooper, his reasoning was that he would “not be easy to see at a distance” and would “fall on the enemy unnoticed.”

Primo and Clarence, might have lived in the same place, but certainly did not see “eye to eye” on how to live life. They might not have known each other, but their legacy “lives on” in the form of life size cutouts on display at the McCleary museum. The display starkly points out the differences in their heights and the stories in the archives point out the stark difference in their personalities. To learn more about these extraordinary men, come visit the McCleary Museum and read the files in our archives.

As an afterthought, which would you rather be the Tallest, or the Shortest? Ideal perhaps is somewhere in the middle. This author prefers short to tall because of the complications of being super tall. Many of the “giants” of the world have suffered like Primo did, with major medical issues with their feet and legs. Short does not let you reach the top shelf, but you are not as likely to have your legs amputated or spend your life in a wheelchair, and you never have to duck going under a doorway! Good things come in small packages, right? But then again people seem to love a “gentle giant”! Why is it you never hear the term, “gentle little person”?