Clare D. (Harbison) MOLANDER

MOLANDER, MYERS, HULETT, MALEY, PETTY, STEARNS, MCNUTT, WILSON, MADSEN, HARBISON, PRUYN

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 4/21/2015 at 18:36:38

July 1, 1928 --- April 9, 2015

GARNER, IA -- Clare "Snooki" D. Molander, 85, of Clive, formerly of Garner, passed away quietly on Thursday, April 9, 2015, surrounded by her family at Des Moines Methodist West Hospital. Memorial services will be held 10:30 a.m. Monday, April 13, at the United Methodist Church in Garner with the Rev. Paul Evans officiating. Inurnment will be in Concord Township Cemetery in Garner. A memorial visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday at the Cataldo Funeral Chapel, 160 E. Fourth St., in Garner.

Clare was born on a farm near Eagle Grove on July 1, 1928, and graduated from Garner High School. She was a member of the Harbison Five, an adagio acrobatic group comprised of her siblings and formed by her mother just prior to World War II. She managed Snow White Grocery owned by her father, was a bookkeeper for Yohn Ready Mix, a secretary for Elling Insurance Agency and Barz Insurance Agency, and social work for the Hancock County Social Welfare Department. After a move to Yuma, Arizona, for a few years, Clare worked for the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment Agency.

She was an avid golfer much of her life, loved playing bridge and Arabian rummy with friends and family, and watching golfers on the Garner Golf Course. Clare and Royal moved to the Woodlands Creek Independent Living in Clive in July of 2014 after living more than 60 years in Garner.

She is survived by her husband of 66 years, Royal; her sons, Craig (Sandie) Molander of St. Charles, Missouri, and Jeff (Cristy) Molander of West Des Moines; grandchildren, Brad (Martha) Molander, Lindsey (Dan) Myers, Kelsey (Scott) Hulett of St. Charles, Missouri; and great-granddaughters, Clare, Alma and Mila Molander; and her sisters, Helene Maley of Garner and Lorene Petty of Hutchison, Kansas. She was preceded in death by baby Molander; her parents, William and Ida; four sisters, Elna Stearns, Jesse Wilson, Billy McNutt, Enola Madsen; and two brothers, Buster Harbison and Bud Pruyn. Cataldo Funeral Home.

Mason City Globe Gazette - Iowa
April 12, 2015