KLOSTER, Clair Garfield 1912-1998

KLOSTER, THORPE, KOCH, BARTLESON, KRAFKA, REED

Posted By: IA GenWeb Volunteer
Date: 8/28/2010 at 17:17:30

Decorah Journal, Thursday, Nov. 26, 1998

Clair Garfield Kloster

Clair Kloster, 86, of Decorah, died Friday, Nov. 20,1998, at the Aase Haugen Home after a short illness.

A memorial service was held Tuesday, Nov. 24, at 11 a.m., at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, with the Rev. Daniel Day Wee officiating.

Doug Nelson was the organist. Lynette Wilson directed the Good Shepherd Choir, which sang "Borning Cry." Other music was provided by Penny Ao-as, John Quello and the congregation.

Greetings from the family were given by Dan Koch. Luther College President Emeritus Elwin D. Farwell also spoke. The Rev. Owen Gangstead read the scripture. The Rev. Paul Hasvoid led the Prayers of the Church and the Lord's Prayer.

The Fjelstul Funeral Home handled arrangements.

Clair Garfield Kloster was born July 23, 1912, in Forest City, the fourth of seven children of Gosner and Rachel Kloster.

He started his life on the family farm, but when he was 5 his father moved the family to town and ran a harness shop. Clair worked as a farm hand on neighboring farms during the summer. He vividly remembered the hard work and his generous employers.

Clair earned an associate of arts degree at Waldorf College in his home town of Forest City. His first teaching job was in nearby Leland. He taught junior high classes, as well as senior high mathematics.

He first came to Luther College as a student in 1937, where he completed his teaching credentials and bachelor of arts degree, graduating in 1938. He spent a year as superintendent in Leland, two years as principal and teacher in Greenfield and then moved to Fairbault, Minn., as teacher and counselor.

In Minneapolis, during one of his summers of graduate work, Clair met Hedvig Thorpe, a kindergarten teacher, the fourth of five daughters of Scriver Thorpe, pastor of University Lutheran Church of Hope. They were married Dec. 27, 1940.

Their son, Steve, was born in 1944, and their daughter, Ingrid, in 1947. Steve is a computer systems analyst at a university in Vancouver, B.C., and Ingrid is a middle school librarian in Ellsworth, Maine.

Clair served in the United States Navy in World War II. He signed up in the spring of 1942, choosing the Navy because as a lifelong Midwesterner, he was fascinated by the ocean and ships. He served as a communications officer
on convoy ships, delivering troops for the invasion of North Africa. He rose to the rank of lieutenant. His commanding officers said he learned to steer a ship pretty well for a boy from "cow country."

The Navy assigned Clair to teaching duties at various training schools for the rest of his service days. He became actively interested in how to make sure that recruits were directed to the jobs that would best suit their skills, an interest that fueled his Ph.D. thesis and his many years of service later at Luther College, helping students choose their career directions.

Clair joined Luther College in the fall of 1947 as an assistant professor of psychology, while he was still pursuing graduate studies at the University of Minnesota. Apart from a leave of absence to work on his Ph.D., Clair stayed with Luther. He served as department head of psychology from 1954-56 and 1965-72, with an interlude as department head of the combined education and psychology departments from 1956-65.

As administrator, he served as dean of students from 1947-56; director of the Placement Bureau from 1956-60 and vice president for Student Personnel Services from 1966-72. Clair directed the College and Career Planning Office from 1972-77. In 1977, he reduced his workload from full to halftime.

From then until 1985, he remained active as professor emeritus, evaluating the credentials of incoming students, using vocational interest inventories to make recommendations on the best options for them. He continued to participate actively in college life, following its teams with enthusiasm.

After he fully retired in 1985, Clair took up making quilts, piecing together basic block quilts for Lutheran World Relief. He quickly became an expert quilter. By he summer of 1998, Clair had completed 604 quilts.

Clair enjoyed life and its simple pleasures, such as the conversation with friends and the view of the Upper Iowa River running by his house, with its occasional herons and geese.

Survivors include his wife, Hedvig; one son, Steven and Moira Kloster of Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada; one daughter, Ingrid and Dan Koch of Ellsworth, Maine; a brother, Rodney and Betty Kloster of Burnsville, Minn.; and three sisters, Myrtle Bartleson of Forest City, Ruth and Fred Krafka of Omaha, Neb., and Lori Reed of Phoenix, Ariz.

Transcribed by an IA GenWeb Volunteer from obituaries found in the Howard-Winneshiek Genealogy Society Library, Cresco, Iowa.