FRENCH, Charles Claire 1918-2004

FRENCH, GILLES, STEARNS

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 2/16/2009 at 16:14:09

OSAGE, IOWA — Claire French, 85, of Osage, died Sunday (March 14, 2004) at the Mitchell County Regional Health Center in Osage of myeloproliferative disease.

A memorial Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Thursday at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Osage. Claire donated his body to the University of Iowa Medical College. Inurnment will take place at a later date.

Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Champion-Bucheit Funeral Home in Osage.

Charles Claire French was born Sept. 8, 1918, in Osage. He was the oldest child of Mary Gilles and Glenn French. His father was a salesman for the Northwest Grocery Company so the family moved quite often, but they always seemed to return to Osage.

Claire started school in Osage, and at that time, it was common to skip half grades. He graduated from Iowa Falls High School in 1935 when he was 16.

He spent his summers working on his grandfather’s farm and enjoying the company of his grandfather, Charles B. French.

After his graduation from high school, he worked at a printing company and was hoping to save money for college. But the print shop went out of business so he returned to Osage to live with Gramp French and work at the Diamond Grocery.

Claire loved the grocery business and soon became the fruit and vegetable man.

Claire and Helen Stearns were married Aug. 30, 1941, in Sturgis, S.D. He had joined the Army in March of 1940 and was eventually sent to Fort Mead in South Dakota.

He did administrative work and was asked to go to officer training school at Fort Lee in Virginia. Helen and Claire moved to Denver, Colo., where their first daughter, Nancy, was born on Dec. 28, 1943.

After being discharged from the Army in 1945, they returned to Osage and he was offered a position at Home Trust Bank, working there until he and his sister-in-law, Mazie Stearns, bought a women’s and children’s clothing store from Mary Kelly in February of 1947. Their second daughter, Sally, was born July 6, 1948.

He operated the store until it was sold to Jeannine Horn in January of 1972.

Claire also enjoyed working on his grandfather’s farm which he now owned. Because of his great love of the farm, he purchased land in the mid-1960s and the family farm in the early ’70s and spent all his spare time there farming and eventually gardening.

During his lifetime, Claire was a life master bridge player, a league bowler, and golf club champion runner-up. He ran for state representative, served on the County Board of Review, and the city council.

He was adjutant of American Legion Post 278, and secretary-treasurer of the Osage Development Corporation as well as Sunny Brae Country Club and Rotary.

While in Florida for the winter, he was a volunteer tax preparer for senior citizens. He enjoyed pheasant hunting and semi-annual fishing trips to Canada with Bob Isham, Virg Johnston, Walt McCoy, and Karl Jorde.

Claire is survived by his wife, Helen, and daughters Nan (Jerry) Danforth of Cedar Rapids, and Sally (Bob) Miller of Osage. Grandchildren include Jeff and Chad Danforth, Robyn (Dave) Keele, Joe (Brenda) Miller and Jaci (fiancé Dan Donlan) Miller. Great-grandchildren include Matt and Mark Keele, and Abbie, Anna, and Ben Miller. Also surviving are a sister, Joan (Ken) Limke of Urbandale; and a sister-in-law, Mary Helen French, of Osage.

His parents and two brothers, Bob and Jim, preceded him in death.

Memorials may be directed to Mitchell County ARC.

[Mason City Globe Gazette]

Champion-Bucheit Funeral Home, (641) 732-3706.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

See tombstone photo of Charles's on IaGenWeb GPP.