To tell Dorothy McClerren’s life story requires understanding she likes to tell other people’s life stories.

For about a half hour Friday afternoon, McClerren, 96, portrayed Mary Todd Lincoln in her daughter’s home to share her talents with Heartland Hospice workers. It was the latest of thousands of performances.

McClerren’s husband, Beryl, got her involved in portraying Mary Lincoln. “My husband started doing Lincoln when he was teaching at the university in 1992. I suggested he shave off the mustache, and there was Lincoln,” she said.

He got her involved in the Lincoln presentations he was doing. “I came home from school one day, and he had checked out 11 books about Mary Lincoln, and he said, ‘Now read.’”

“For 30 years, my husband and I traveled the United States and Hawaii with the Lincoln programs,” she said. Her husband died four years ago at age 92.

“It was a good life. It was an excellent life,” McClerren said.

Their family has been immersed in Lincoln lore all this time.

“I heard probably every story about Lincoln before I knew how to talk,” said their granddaughter Emma Truchan, 22.

The McClerrens’ home looked like a Lincoln museum, filled with books about the Lincoln family, old newspapers and a photo of the McClerrens when they won a Lincoln look-alike contest, Emma said.

McClerren’s daughter Barbara Truchan, in whose home McClerren now lives, was pleased with her mother’s performance Friday. “She forgot a couple of things, but honestly, I don’t remember what parts,” Truchan said. That’s how seamless the presentation was.

When McClerren woke Friday, she was joyful. “Today’s the day,” she told Truchan.

“It just gives her life. Her whole joy is education and performance,” Truchan said. “She just really wanted to try to do another one.”During the performance, McClerren told Mary Lincoln’s life, from birth as Mary Todd, to marriage, to her husband’s election to the presidency, to her husband’s death and later to Mary Lincoln’s death and a bit about her legacy.

The Lincoln children were the first young children to live in the White House, McClerren said. That led to an amusing anecdote.

“I had to have all new furniture,” McClerren, in her Mary Lincoln persona, said. “The whole house was redone.”

President Lincoln told her, “You’d better have a party and have some of your friends over and see what a fine job you’ve done.”

Mary did so, even hiring a woman to sing at the fancy soiree.

“In came Taddy (youngest son Thomas, nicknamed “Tad” for Tadpole) with a goat he was pulling on a rope,” she said. The goat got loose and started running.

“All of the things went flying everywhere. The cake went flying, and the lady who was singing, she lost her voice and couldn’t sing the rest of the day.”

Of course, the Lincoln story includes tragedies as well as comedies.

Near the end of his life, Abraham Lincoln dreamed he awoke to crying, learning in his dream the president was dead of an assassin’s bullet. He told his wife the next day about that dream.

“Then he saw how upset I got, and he said, ‘Mother, I’ll never mention it again.’ Then he said, ‘Mother, remember, it’s only a dream.’”

The day of the assassination, the first lady had a terrible headache and suggested skipping the theater that night, where they planned to see a production of “Our American Cousin.” The president told her to rest in hopes she would feel better. Later, she said, “I sat in the presidential box and visited with my Mr. Lincoln.” In the third actor, actor John Wilkes Booth fired the fatal shot into the president’s head.

His widow, asked about funeral arrangements, suggested Chicago or New York. When she learned their son Edward, who died at age 3, could be buried with Lincoln, she agreed to have her husband entombed at Springfield, where his political career began.

On the train ride there, 11 funerals were held for the slain president, McClerren, as widow Mary Lincoln, said.

“History is not kind to Mary Lincoln,” McClerren said. “Sad words are written. Harsh words are written. Cruel words are written.”

How long did it take McClerren to prepare for this role? “96 years,” she said.

She and her husband lived for the Lincoln presentations. “In Dallas, they loved us down there,” McClerren said. “In eight days in Dallas, we had 15 performances,” having to cut the visit short so McClerren’s husband, a Baptist minister, could return home to officiate at a funeral.

Mary Lincoln isn’t the only character McClerren has portrayed. She can portray seven women from the Bible, too, but Mary Lincoln is her favorite.

“She’s got different outfits for each presentation,” Barbara Truchan said.

Together, they performed at a lot of schools, churches, family reunions, libraries and elsewhere, all across the United States, including Hawaii.

Her husband began portraying the 16th president in 1992, with McClerren stepping in two years later to join him.

McClerren grew up in southern Illinois after being born in 1928, the same year commercially sliced bread was first sold. She attended a one-room school in Odin, Illinois, before graduating high school at age 16. She went to college for a year before returning during World War II to teach in a one-room school. After two years, she returned to Southern Illinois University to finish her degree.

After her youngest child began attending school, she went back to teaching. Her first post, at age 39, was at an Amish school. “We can’t send a young girl with a miniskirt out there,” she was told when she was hired.

When the Amish took over that school building, she spent 18 years at a grade school in Arcola, Illinois.

Her sense of humor comes from her parents. “My maiden name was Quick,” she said, and her mother’s maiden name was Cash. After the Quick-Cash wedding, her father used to joke, “When I got married, I got 115 pounds of Cash.”

McClerren enjoys being with family and friends, continuing to enjoy lunch with her sister and far-flung friends online, each bringing a sack lunch to the screen.

She also enjoys working with her hands. “I make over 50 different types of crafts,” she said, to keep herself busy. “It keeps you from crying,” she said.

After her performance, the Heartland Hospice spectators were encouraged to take home some of the jewelry she has made. They gave McClerren rave reviews.

“She’s great. It’s a pleasure to take care of her,” Katie Mirabella, of Valparaiso, said.

“She had a very good presence. It was very well done,” Ron Cooper, of Highland, said.

“I thought it was wonderful,” said Haley Falaney, of Valparaiso. “Hearing how excited she was about doing another performance, I knew I wouldn’t risk it.”

“She is a great performer,” Jessica Martinez, of Portage, said.

“I think this has been a really good experience,” Stephanie Edwards, of Crown Point, said. It shows the importance of providing purpose in a person’s life, she said.

Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.