Obit: Lewis, Clara Louise (1917 - 2016)
 

Provided by: James Sternitzky
Transcriber: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Lewis, Sternitzky, Ziegler-O'Donnell, Grobe, Horton

Source: Marshfield News Herald (Marshfield, WI) 05 Jul 2016

Lewis, Clara Louise (30 NOV1917 - 28 JUN 2016)
 
Clara Louise (Sternitzky) Lewis was born November 30, 1917 in the Town of Lynn, near Granton, Wisconsin to the late Louis and Martha (Burdick) Sternitzky. Clara lived her life "one day at a time" and cautioned everyone to "wait until you are 98 and see what you do". Clara's dad was so happy when she was born because he had four brothers but no sisters. Then he had four sons before she was born, including Melvin, Elmer (stillborn), Clarence, and Luverne (who lived only a month). After Clara, three more sons were born (David, George and Thearn). Needless to say she was the apple of her Dad's eye as she grew up on the family farm near Lynn.

She was baptized, attended grades 7 & 8 at the Christian Day School, was confirmed and married at Zion Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod) in Granton, where she has remained a life-long member. Clara was active in the Ladies Aid and LWML and often played the piano as members sang hymns. She was an expert cook and baker, always sharing her talent and food at church events such as the annual potato pancake dinners, rummage sales, potlucks, wedding and funeral meals.

After attending Poplar Grove Elementary School and Granton High School, Clara married Leslie Lewis on June 26, 1934. They lived on a farm for a few years when their only child Ronald died in 1937, and then the "Bangs Disease" (Brucellosis of cattle, also known as contagious abortion) infected their herd of cattle. Left with no means of earning a living, in 1943, they moved with their two small daughters to Detroit Michigan to work in the automobile factories which were booming because of World War II. Clara began working days as a "ROSIE THE RIVETER" at the Chrysler Corporation, buildings tanks for the U.S. Army, while Leslie worked at the Packard Automotive Plant. In addition, Clara worked part-time as a cook for Ann's Galley restaurant. An 18-foot trailer house was their first home in the Detroit area. A while later they personally constructed a house in Warren Michigan. In those days, there were few motels, so Clara and Leslie offered the extra rooms in their home to construction workers and Clara cooked meals for them.

After the war, they returned to their Wisconsin home and resumed dairy farming and cleared several acres of land. They supplemented their income by making and selling maple syrup each spring, growing green beans and pickles for the canneries and picking wild blackberries to sell in Marshfield. Clara canned lots of fruits and vegetables as well as chicken, venison and beef. She had a "green thumb" and grew lots of beautiful house plants, annuals and perennials, strawberries, raspberries and miscellaneous garden vegetables. Another way that Clara added income to the family was her heavy-duty semi-annual cleaning of the local one-room school, Maple Grove. The family farm (near Lindsey) had an annual hill-climb on "Burdock Mound" sponsored by the Lauby Riders/Harley Davidson Motorcycle Club of Marshfield. Clara always cooked and baked lots of good food for friends and relatives who attended the event. Clara was known so well for her good meals that the annual oats threshing crew timed their jobs to be at the Lewis farm for the noon meal which always included tasty chicken, roast beef & mashed potatoes, lots of vegetables and wonderful breads and apple, peach & berry pies. Clara was also known for her ability to dress and cut up the deer that Leslie harvested every year. While living on the farm, Clara was active in the neighborhood "Happy Hour Sewing Club". Over the years, she made several quilts, beginning in 1936.

Clara worked a few years for Weinbrenner's Shoe Factory in Marshfield. Next she worked 13 years before retiring in 1980 from Weyerhauser Corporation in Marshfield. There she made many lasting friends. While working days at Weyerhauser, she also worked nights as a cook for Bali Hai Supper Club near Neillsville and baked all their dinner rolls and pies which were a sought after by regular diners.

In 1993 Clara and Leslie moved from the farm to a house in Loyal. In 1998, he became a resident at Memorial Medical Center in Neillsville and she drove the 17 miles from Loyal nearly every day to visit him. Leslie died in 2002, after 67 years of marriage. A year later, Clara moved to Home Town Village in Loyal and then moved to Sunset Gardens in Neillsville in 2012. While in Loyal, she was extremely active in the Loyal, Granton, and Chili Senior Citizen Clubs as well as the Zion Ladies Aid, The Loyal Garden Club, the Home Town Village Canasta club, Sheepshead & miscellaneous other card groups. She was almost 95 before she stopped shuttling friends to those events. Clara's 90th birthday was celebrated in 2007 by nearly 400 people at the Loyal Legion Hall.

Clara loved her far-flung family and until recently, frequently visited, and corresponded with them and wrote every day in her diary. She especially enjoyed lengthy motor home trips with Lois and Tom, and fishing experiences with Loretta and Edward (She even won a Master Angler Award from the State of Michigan Department of Natural Resources for a rock bass that she caught). In 2014, she was able to travel to Michigan to attend Loretta and Edward's 50th wedding anniversary celebration, where she visited with her entire immediate family as they reminisced about her wonderful homemade angel-food cake, noodles, prune-filled doughnuts, potato pancakes, sea-foam candy, fudge and more! She even danced with grandsons at the event!

Clara is survived by her two daughters: Lois (Tom) Ziegler-O'Donnell, California, and Loretta, PhD (Edward) Grobe of Florida and Michigan; and six grandchildren: Shelly (Rev. Dr. William) Lewis, Florida; Dean (Kathy) Ziegler, Tennessee; Laurie (Steve) Horton, California; Bryon (Julie) Ziegler, Washington; Kevin (Andrea) Grobe, Ohio; and Justin, PhD (Connie PhD) Grobe, Iowa. She is also survived by 11 great grandchildren: Elijah and Taylor Lewis, Sam and Lilah Horton, Mackenzie and Isabel Ziegler, and Madeline, Garett, Haley, Oliver and Edison Grobe. Also surviving is one brother, Thearn (Linnie) Sternitzky, Arizona.

Clara's last great pleasure was meeting and holding 7 month old Edison's hand. Clara had become the matriarch of the family, and many relatives, as well as former neighbors and friends, continued to correspond and/or visit with her to the end. The family wishes to thank the care givers at Sunset Gardens and Hospice for their kind attention to Clara and her needs; to Dr. Amy Schneider for Clara's medical needs and to Rev. Dan Schoessow for spiritual and pastoral guidance.

Clara passed away peacefully on Tuesday, June 28, 2016 at Sunset Gardens Assisted Living, in Neillsville. Funeral services will be held at 11am on Friday, July 8, 2016 at Zion Lutheran Church, in Granton, WI. Rev. Dan Schoessow will officiate and burial will follow in the church cemetery. Pallbearers will be: Dean Ziegler, Bryon Ziegler, Kevin Grobe, Justin Grobe, Garett Grobe, Kevin Schmitz and Ronald Koepke. Visitation will be held at Cuddie Funeral Home, in Loyal, WI, on Thursday, July 7, 2016 from 4pm to 7pm, and again at the church, on Friday, from 10am until time of service.