Claire Werling...precious memories of wife, mother, grandmother
and friend.

From husband, Skip: 

Your mother and I had a lot of good years, and I shall never forget them!

From Daughter, Joyce: 

There is no other word like mother.  The word has only 6 letters, but the meaning stretches to eternity.  Our mother, Claire Dugas Snyder Werling, for such a tiny little person, had such a large influence on many people.  However, I can only speak for myself. 

When I was once asked, �Who has had the greatest influence on you?� my mother�s face came to my mind.  Most of us would say that......why even the big, professional football player, when he notices his face on TV says �Hi mom!�. 

Born Bertha Claire Dugas, in Taft, California, mother was an obedient child to a stern mother and a loving father.  She was raised with manners and good grammer and she instilled these things in her children.  Mother once told me that she met our dad, John Richard Snyder, through a girlfriend of his.  This girlfriend had to go on vacation, and she asked mother to �keep an eye on Dick, � for her, feeling that mother was �safe�. 

Well, obviously not, because Dick Snyder fell deeply in love with her.  They married in St. Mary's Catholic Church in Taft California, and soon were blessed with four children:  John Richard Jr., George Joseph, Rosalie and last but no least, me...Cynthia Joyce. 

Mother, as she asked to be referred to (in her latter years) was an excellent homemaker.  She was like a little tornado when it came time to clean.  A baseboard did not go undusted.  Yet, she was loving and warmed your heart so, when she threw her head back in laughter. 

Sadly, she was forced out of the homemaking role by the death of our dad.  At the age of 29, she was alone with four children.  She had to financially support our family, and that she did!  She went to work at the Bank of America and budgeted and prayed us through the tough times.  Prayer has always been mother�s strength.  Her communication with God has given her strength to get through the hard times.  Her  prayers to find a wonderful step-dad for us were answered when she found Skip.  Not only was he a great dad, but he came with two more brothers for us!  Orv and Richard were very close to my brothers ages. I think this made for some really fun times growing up!

Mother didn�t flinch at the idea of raising this big family.  One day at a time, she handled crisises and brought secusity and warmth to our family.  She taught us through example.  We all grew up hearing her little words of wisdom, passed down to her from her parents:  �A stitch in time saves nine.�  �Do unto other�s as you would have have them do unto you.�  �A job worth doing is worth doing well.� There were dozens of of these tried and true phrases.  As a teen, they used to irritate me and I swore that I would never put my children through such torture...but...I did, and I'm not sure that they don't use them too, once in a while, with their little ones!!

My fondest memories of mother are from bedtime.   I would kiss all of my family members and then mother would come into my room to kiss me.   She always smelled like Avon perfume, and I always wanted her to kiss me last, so I could have her kiss, and her "germs", on my lips to go to sleep with.  When I think of mother, my feelings of her were that she was tiny, yet mighty and loving.  She and our step-dad, Skip, made a good team.  They each had just the greatest attributes that complemented the other's.  Claire ~ Dick ~ Skip ~We were blessed to have all three of our parents. 

Mother....she was our gift from God.....her greatest gift to us was ~  one another.

Mother often played on the piano:

"I'll be seeing you in all the old familiar places..that this heart of mine embraces, all day through. In that small cafe, the park across the way, the children's carousel, the chestnut trees, the wishing well.

I'll be seeing you in every lovely summer's day, in everything that's bright and gay...I'll always think of you that way. I'll find you in the morning sun, and when the night is new.  I'll be looking at the moon, but I'll be seeing you!"

We WILL be seeing you, Mother!

From Daughter, Rosalie:  

My Mother, and I have to say �mother�, because she liked being called mother rather then mom and would once in a while say----call me �mother�.

My mother lived a very full life with a lot of love around her.  She taught her family many things and the one important thing to her was to see her family always �bonded�.  She was the shoestring of keeping all of us close. She had told me on occasion that all she wanted was to see her children close.

She was a stubborn woman, with a lot of spunk and had strength throughout her life to endure pain that she went through till about 9 years ago.  Guess it all caught up with her.  But again, she was still working her �magic� of  bringing her children closer together. In some of our conversations together, she relayed to me how lucky she was to find a man to love and care for us as Skip has, and how lucky she was to have gotten two fine sons through this marriage�.We, as two families in one, always got along----cared and loved one another and dealt with things all together that needed to be dealt with and with the love that we were all taught.

The one thing that I will always be thankful for will be in Oct. of 1998 when all of us were together, for the last time---she was still working her �magic�

There is such an emptiness in my heart with her gone�.Her voice continues to fill my head with her little expressions.  I know that she is with me always.  I don�t think I will ever stop missing her..not at all.  I am so lonely with her gone, but I know that she is happy and without the pain that she has endured�mentally and physically.

Jimmy, Mother,
Jennifer and Judy
1974

From Son, Joseph:

I must say that during the time we were growing up, mom would not let me do a lot of  things that I wanted to, including buying a motorcycle.   After reaching the age of thirty, I finally realized that mom was correct almost 100 % of the time.  I guess that is what one calls maturing.   Joseph

From Granddaughter Jennifer:

I've starting writing about grandma three times, and can't ever seem to find the words to describe my feelings.  So I'll say she always made me feel loved.  Was interested in what I was interested in.  Loved to talk about my fingernails and how I cared for them...and got me addicted to cheddar cheese.  I miss her very much.

From Granddaughter Judy:

I'd like to share a few thoughts and feelings about grandma.  I always felt very loved and accepted whenever I was around her.  She often told me how much she loved me, and let me know "what a beautiful young lady I was." Whenever she came to visit, she always made time to sit down and talk with me one on one. Grandma was genuinely interested in the things I was involved in and interested in how I (as a person) was doing.  I could feel this through her words, eyes, and through her wonderful smile!  Grandma never passed up a chance to build up my self esteem.   I can think of how her  voice sounded on the phone during the times she would call and talk to us kids.  There was never a phone call that ended without an "I love you Judy."

I 'm so thankful that I was able to see her before she passed away.  I remember thinking, before leaving the house, that this would probably be the last time I would see her before she died. It made me very sad.  She gave me a tender kiss (grandma's lips were so soft) and said "I love you Judy."  I'm going to hang on to that moment in my heart until we meet again.

I treasure the pictures and videos I have of grandma. I love my afghan and the few things of her's that were given to me after she passed away. I'm grateful for all of my wonderful memories and I'm especially grateful to know that she's in a peaceful place with grandpa Snyder right now and that I will be with her again.  I love my grandma.

From, niece, Sylvia:

Here are just a couple of my Memories of My Auntie Claire:
I have so many memories of Auntie. First and foremost is her insistence that I call her "Aunt Claire." Well, being French stubborn, I couldn't bring myself to do that. I always said "Claire" and let it go at that. Finally, we decided she would be my Auntie Claire. That sounded friendly enough for me.

She was in my life all through my childhood with a few breaks when she went to other towns to live. What towns? I cannot remember for the life of me. I just know that I missed her so much because she was, to me, the peppy, pretty lady my Mom was not.
Whenever we went to Auntie's house, it was always sparkly clean. Mom would comment that Claire was cut from a different mold entirely, as our house was clean but far from sparkly. Auntie always made me feel so very special. (I think that is because I was special to her until she had her own little girls.)

Speaking of which -- I remember visiting with her up in South Taft. She was cleaning away, and I - a young teen at the time -- was not doing much of anything except watching and talking. She told me she had a secret and if she shared it, I was to tell no one. I agreed, and she then told me she was pregnant (for Joyce). I was so excited!  Auntie was expecting a baby, and she told me first. I could sure keep that secret! Years later, she and I were talking, and she told me she had never forgotten that day either. Seems she was feeling pretty lousy and she had hoped that I would feel sorry for her and help with her housework. I didn't. It never occurred to me that that was what she wanted, and she hadn't asked for help.   Guess I was a bit dense.

I also remember going over to visit on Tyler (?) Street. I remember she had a couple of pans that had burned-on grease, and it just didn't fit in my mind with Auntie's cleanliness; so I started scrubbing them with steel wool, and I really did get those two pans sparkly clean on the outside. She seemed delighted with my efforts. (Of course, we all have griddles and pans that have that brown look, don't we?  It is called daily build up!)_

Her cheerful piano playing. Oh, that was one of my favorites. I would ask her to play something for me (probably at inconvenient times) and she would sit and play a peppy tune for me. Then she would get up and go back to visiting my folks. I remember her telling me that my mom had also played the piano and I should ask her. That was ONCE and it was funny. My Mom didn't have the confidence about the piano that Auntie had. But we coerced her into playing anyway. She played a very mechanical rendition of "Marching Along To Georgia." I enjoyed it, but I never asked her to play again. I really preferred to hear that piano swing.

I also remember she would play and family members would gather around and sing. Uncle Jean loved to sing in spite of his lack of talent. He would sing louder than anyone else and out of tune more than anyone else. "Oh, yes.  I remember it well!"
My Auntie Claire gave all of us some pretty wonderful memories. These barely touch on what is in my mind and in my heart about her. She was a lovely, hard-working lady with real spirit. She was truly special.

From Friend, Syra Cook:

It is hard to believe that one year has almost gone by that our dear Claire left this world. I so miss her. I have many friends over here but none can take her place.  When one becomes friends in their younger years there are so many precious things to share - ones life - ones children - ones sorrows - ones joys. 

I thank you for remembering me.  I am  grateful to you for making this possible. In years to come, you will always have those memories that all of you are sharing about your mother, grandmother, great grandmother, mother in-law, etc.