I always enjoyed watching Clarita looking so good driving her black with orange trim Mercury convertable around town, top down, of course. She had enough class for an enitre roomfull of people.
Jon, I often rode in that black and orange convertable with Clarita and other girls. Those were great memories. She got that car when she started to high school. Several of us went to register for classes in that car. Wow!! I felt so grown up. I wish I had more details about Clarita's death. You are right, Jon, Clarita was classy. She was also respected by everyone.
Clarita died 10-12 years ago of advanced breast cancer; she battled it graciously for over 10 years. One date that I do remember is 1994 when she and her husband James attended my son’s wedding at West Point. James, at that point, told me that nothing more could be done for her and that she had told him not to mourn her before she died and to enjoy life as much as possible. She participated in various clinical trials through the years and was a patient at Sloane-Kettering in New York. They were living in New Jersey/New York at the time of her death as her husband was flying for Delta. He later retired to Texas on a lake where my husband and I had a weekend home. James died of cancer this year (April 2009). They have two married sons and four grandchildren.
Clarita always had a smile on her face and a laugh to share with anyone. I always enjoyed being around her. We did not do anything in preticular together as far as activities, but shared experiences whenever we were together. I have great memories of her. Jean Ann Clark-Bird
Clarita was my childhood girlfriend, beginning in fifth grade. We drifted apart in high school, but were always friends to one another. I did visit her and her mother in the early '80s and found her to be as brave as anyone I'd ever seen. She was a lovely person whom I still remember with fondness. She was a rare and wonderful person and her death constituted a great loss to all who knew her.
Clarita and I grew up together. She lived across the street and one house down, next door to Rilla Trotter who was directly across. I knew her from the second or third grade on through high school, then occasionally in the following years.
I believe she majored in German and I remember her husband was a pilot for Pan Am.
The last time I saw her was not long before she died, by which I mean probably several months--she looked just fine at that time but, after this dinner which we'd attended, I noticed an elastic sleeve on her left arm. This is something you see after mastectomy to reduce swelling so I asked about it.
She told me then frankly that there were distant metastases and, without saying so, we both knew she wasn't going to get well. We also caught up in the usual way: my parents, her two sisters, etc.
After that I couldn't get her off my mind. I wrote her a letter and got the most touching reply.
Others I remember being at that dinner were Betty Sue Weatherford, Mo Tullos, Lou Carter, Bob Jackson; there were a few others whom I don't recall as it wasn't a big affair, just spur-of-the-moment.
And the convertible: I was there the day it was delivered and it was something! Her dad had started his own company and was doing well financially.
Jon Patterson
I always enjoyed watching Clarita looking so good driving her black with orange trim Mercury convertable around town, top down, of course. She had enough class for an enitre roomfull of people.Jon Patterson, W.B. Ray class of '58
Peggy Bass (-Cox)
Jon, I often rode in that black and orange convertable with Clarita and other girls. Those were great memories. She got that car when she started to high school. Several of us went to register for classes in that car. Wow!! I felt so grown up. I wish I had more details about Clarita's death.You are right, Jon, Clarita was classy. She was also respected by everyone.
Mary Anne Park (-Owens)
Clarita died 10-12 years ago of advanced breast cancer; she battled it graciously for over 10 years. One date that I do remember is 1994 when she and her husband James attended my son’s wedding at West Point. James, at that point, told me that nothing more could be done for her and that she had told him not to mourn her before she died and to enjoy life as much as possible. She participated in various clinical trials through the years and was a patient at Sloane-Kettering in New York. They were living in New Jersey/New York at the time of her death as her husband was flying for Delta. He later retired to Texas on a lake where my husband and I had a weekend home. James died of cancer this year (April 2009). They have two married sons and four grandchildren.Jean Ann Clark (-Bird)
Clarita always had a smile on her face and a laugh to share with anyone. I always enjoyed being around her. We did not do anything in preticular together as far as activities, but shared experiences whenever we were together. I have great memories of her.Jean Ann Clark-Bird
Thomas Estes
Clarita was my childhood girlfriend, beginning in fifth grade. We drifted apart in high school, but were always friends to one another. I did visit her and her mother in the early '80s and found her to be as brave as anyone I'd ever seen. She was a lovely person whom I still remember with fondness. She was a rare and wonderful person and her death constituted a great loss to all who knew her.Gordon Daugherty
Clarita and I grew up together. She lived across the street and one house down, next door to Rilla Trotter who was directly across. I knew her from the second or third grade on through high school, then occasionally in the following years.
I believe she majored in German and I remember her husband was a pilot for Pan Am.
The last time I saw her was not long before she died, by which I mean probably several months--she looked just fine at that time but, after this dinner which we'd attended, I noticed an elastic sleeve on her left arm. This is something you see after mastectomy to reduce swelling so I asked about it.
She told me then frankly that there were distant metastases and, without saying so, we both knew she wasn't going to get well. We also caught up in the usual way: my parents, her two sisters, etc.
After that I couldn't get her off my mind. I wrote her a letter and got the most touching reply.
Others I remember being at that dinner were Betty Sue Weatherford, Mo Tullos, Lou Carter, Bob Jackson; there were a few others whom I don't recall as it wasn't a big affair, just spur-of-the-moment.
And the convertible: I was there the day it was delivered and it was something! Her dad had started his own company and was doing well financially.