Claire Lavonne (Arends) JOHNSON

ARENDS, JOHNSON, HOSLER, CARSTENS, HILL, RITTER, KALLEMYN, REHM

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 7/31/2010 at 11:53:16

September 17, 1907 -- March 25, 1998

ALEXANDER, IA— Claire L. (Arends) Johnson, 90, of Alexander, died Wednesday (March 25, 1998) at Franklin General Hospital, Hampton. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the Reformed Church in Alexander, with the Rev. Gerald Norman officiating. Burial will be in the Alexander Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. today at the Sietsema Vogel Funeral Home, Latimer.

Claire Lavonne was born on a farm west of Alexander to Ben and Alvena (Rehm) Arends on Sept. 17, 1907. She attended and graduated from Alexander Consolidated School. She married Henry Johnson on April 22, 1925, at Hampton, Iowa. They farmed southeast of Alexander until they retired to Alexander in 1969. Claire was a partner with her husband in the farming operation, helping in the field and caring for animals when needed. She had helped her father from a very early age, so knew well how to do all aspects of farming. Being a "farmer" she carried that love of the land to growing many beautiful flowers both indoors as well as outdoors, which she enjoyed sharing with friends and family. Claire was also talented in flower arranging, crafts and cooking. She shared with family and friends her excellent pies and delicious pecan caramel rolls as well as daily meals and lunches. She was also an excellent seamstress, in the days before "talls" she made everything from jeans to sport coats. She did a good deal of alterations and made many wedding gowns and gowns for members of the bridal party.

She was confirmed into the Christian faith April 24, 1922, at St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church at Alexander. After her marriage, she became a member of the First Reformed Church and there she taught Sunday School, was a member and served in several offices of the R.C.W.M. Throughout her life, Claire had a strong interest in music, particularly vocal music. As a youngster, she began to sing in the church choir, and continued as a soloist and as a member of small groups as well as with the choir until the last few years of her life. She was a charter member of the Alexander Kitchen Klatter Band.

She was a loving, caring, wife, mother and grandmother. Her children and grandchildren provided the highlights of her life and she spent a great deal of time loving and caring for them. She lived in her home in Alexander until her health would no longer allow her to be alone. In February 1993 she entered a nursing facility at Franklin General Hospital in Hampton, where she remained until her death. She was a member of the Alexander Cemetery Association and for 37 years served as secretary, keeping records of meetings, selling lots and recording them.

She leaves to cherish her memory her children, Marilyn and Darwin Hill, of Latimer; Jim and Diane Johnson, of Mason City; and Sandra and Bill Ritter, of Minneapolis; her grandchildren, Jennifer and Darren Ritter, Michelle Kallemyn, Lance, Ryan, Steven, Seth and Michael Johnson; and two great-granddaughters, Tahlia Dawn and Taylor Claire. She was preceded in death by her husband; parents; and her sisters, Beulah Hossler, Dorothy Carstens; and her brother, Bernard Arends.

March 27, 1998
Mason City (Iowa) Globe Gazette