LaReine Alberta Warden Clayton was born to Hubert Pascal and Betty Alberta (Strother) Warden in Mexico, Missouri in September 1894. She graduated from the University of Missouri where she met her husband, Claud F. Clayton (1890-1968). The couple married during World War II. Claud was assigned to establish a Department of Agriculture post in the Philippines after the war and the couple lived in Manila for several years before returning to their home in Knoxville. Here, LaReine Clayton worked as a musician, painter, writer, and illustrator. She published Now Be a Little Lady in 1967 and was working on Stories of Early Inns and Taverns of the East Tennessee Country (1995) at the time of her death. Clayton also served as President of the Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities (Ramsey House) and was a longtime member of Knoxville's First Presbyterian Church. She died in Knoxville on May 1, 1993.