Clare (Weber) CAVANAUGH

WEBER, CAVANAUGH, BENNETT, EWERS, MEEK, OLDHAM

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 9/30/2006 at 14:12:35

Clare Weber Cavanaugh, 100, of Rockville, Maryland, died on Wednesday, April 5, 2006, at the Alfred House Eldercare. Funeral services were held on Saturday, April 8, at the St. John Neumann Church, Gaithersburg, with burial on Sunday, April 29, at the St. Francis Cemetery and Mausoleum, Phoenix, Arizona.

Clare Weber was born on April 26, 1905, in Keokuk, the daughter of the late Mary Ann Meek of Bonaparte, Iowa and Carl August Weber of Elzach Baden, Germany. She grew up in Keokuk and attended the Keokuk High School and later St. Mary-of-the-Woods in Terre Haute, Indiana. Following graduation, she worked as a secretary in Chicago for five years. It was there that she met Herbert Cavanaugh, a pharmacist. They were married on November 9, 1929, in Keokuk. In 1937, they purchased a drug store in Clarion and operated the store for 26 years. After retirement they moved to their farm in Wright County where they enjoyed living every summer. Their winter home was in Phoenix, Arizona. In 1986, they made Peoria, Arizona their permanent home. During her life time, Clare traveled extensively. In her younger days, she was an avid gardener and loved to entertain and play cards with friends. Later, she enjoyed playing the piano and organ, painting and knitting. She had a great interest in history and shared many stories about her family members' activities during the westward movement. Following the 1992 death of her husband, Clare moved to Maryland in 1995 to be near her son, Thomas and his family.

Survivors include two sons, John Cavanaugh and wife, Virginia of Libertyville, Illinois and Thomas Cavanaugh and wife, Sandra (the former Sandra Oldham) of Montgomery Village, Maryland; eight grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband of 63 years, Herbert Cavanaugh; four sisters, Marie Weber, Leonore Bennett, Gertrude Weber and Alice Ewers; and one brother, Art Weber.

April 13, 2006
© Wright County Monitor 2006