COLUMBUS
Clara Louise Kendall Thompson, 90, of Columbus, passed from this life at 3:50 a.m. Tuesday, December 5, 2017 at Our Hospice of South Central Indiana Inpatient Facility.
Mrs. Thompson retired from Cummins Engine Co. in 1983 where she had worked from 1945 to 1983.
She was a member of Garden City Church of Christ.
Clara enjoyed the outdoors and nature. She spent her retirement years feeding the birds, deer and other critters that roamed her yard.
She loved cats and dogs and always had one to four or more traveling cats to care for.
An avid gardener, she enjoyed flower gardening and always had butterflies and hummingbirds around.
She also enjoyed harvesting veggies from her garden.
After retiring she worked at Helton’s Garden Center with her friend Glenna VanWay.
At Christmas, Clara worked in Indianapolis at a Christmas Tree lot selling trees.
Clara enjoyed fishing with friends and falling into the lake occasionally; there was always a friend to rescue her.
She also enjoyed traveling, dancing, reading, playing Bingo at the Elks Club and games of chance with friends.
She was a competitive card player of bid euchre and hand and foot.
Her traveling to Las Vegas with friends was always an adventure where they enjoyed the games, as well as attending the Bull Riding Competition.
Clara was born, September 14, 1927 in Shelby County near Shelbyville.
She was the daughter of Everett and Pearl Wagner Kendall.
Clara’s family moved to Columbus in 1935 and then to North Dakota in 1938. They returned to Indiana in 1945.
Surviving are several nieces and nephews in North Dakota, Minnesota, Washington State, Michigan and Indiana.
She loved her family and cared for her parents until her father’s death in 1989 at the age of 95 and her mother’s death in 2002 at the age of 103.
She was also preceded in death by her brothers, Everett Paul in 1987 and James Marshall in 1991; a sister, Mary Magdeline Shroyer in 2013; long time friends and companion, Carl E. Hyden in 1999.
The funeral will be conducted at noon Monday at Barkes, Weaver & Glick Funeral Home on Jonathan Moore Pike, with Virgil Clotfelter and Rick Branstetter officiating. Family and friends may call from 10 a.m. to time of service Monday at the funeral home. Burial will be at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Columbus.
Online condolences and special memories may be shared with Clara’s family at barkesweaverglick.com.
Death is but a moment while life is many moments.
On a hill, there was a rock — on it was carved, “Forget Me Not.”
