Mark Allen Clampton was the youngest of the four siblings, born eight years after his twin brothers Matthew and Luke. The jealous twins took their frustrations out on the helpless youngster and he retreated into the nearby kudzu patches at their slightest provocation. Mac, as he was known, spent nearly all his spare time in the tangles of vines behind their share cropper home while his brothers and parents gravitated to the low-wage jobs at the nearby mobile home factory of the Southern Comfort Manufacturing Company. The twins eventually managed to become licensed drivers of their own big rigs, delivering new mobile homes and repossessing older ones. The family struggled to survive on their low wages while secretly hoping to become financially secure by utilizing a federal program to start their own competing company. Poorly educated but highly motivated, the elder Clamptons waited for their chance to grab the brass ring of success.