Clara Sieve

Clara Sieve, 100, passed away peacefully surrounded by her loving family on November 15, 2011. Her parents, Gottfried and Mary (Herbers) Sieve, and her brothers and sisters Elizabeth Sieve, Frank Sieve, Leo Sieve, Josephine Schroers, Albert Sieve, and Olivia Beaubien preceded her in death. She is survived by a sister, Matilda Petesch, a brother, Lawrence Sieve, and 31 nieces and nephews.

Clara spent a lifetime in service to others. After her graduation from Valley Falls High School in 1929, she provided hospice care for John and Lena Groff in the Kansas City area. She was recruited by a Benedictine priest, Father Egbert Hall, in 1938 to become a housekeeper and parish secretary for Immaculate Conception Church in Valley Falls KS. In 1938 where she began a 30+ year affiliation with the priests and sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict based in Atchison. During this time she was housekeeper, parish secretary, and organized parish fund raising activities for Catholic churches staffed by the Benedictine priests in Valley Falls, Seneca, Atchison, Troy, and Effingham, Kansas before her retirement. In 1945 she was recognized as an Oblate of St. Benedict at Mount Saint Scholastica, and 1946-1947 was assigned to assist Father Egbert Hall in missionary work in Sahuaya, Mexico.

Upon her retirement in 1977 she moved to Babcock Place in Lawrence Kansas where she continued her life of care giving to her mother until Mary’s death at 96 years old in 1979. Clara’s brother, Leo, had also moved to Babcock Place and was in need of care which Clara provided until his passing in 1990. After leaving Babcock Place, she lived with Tillie Petesch in rural Douglas County after the death of Tillie’s husband, Elmer. Tillie and Clara moved to Lawrence and were active members of the new Corpus Christi parish until their recent move to Our Lady of Mercy Country Home in Liberty, MO. in July 2010. Clara was also a member of the Lawrence Book Club and did volunteer work for the St. John’s Thrift Store in Lawrence until she moved to Liberty with her sister.

Clara had many hobbies, crocheting afghans; making quilts; and appliquéing quilts to name a few. She was always known for her cooking and baking, with everything made from scratch, from angel food cakes to her famous homemade noodles. She also made rosaries. There are literally thousands of rosaries Clara made, distributed worldwide, especially in Africa.  She loved to travel and had been from Washington D.C. to Seattle, Washington and from Florida to Alaska. In addition to her missionary work in Mexico, she also traveled to make a pilgrimage to Medjugorje, Yugoslavia (now Bosnia).

A Mass of Christian Burial will be Concelebrated by Father Jim Shaughnessy and Monsignor Vince Krische at 10 a.m. Saturday, November 19, 2011 at Corpus Christi Catholic Church, Lawrence. Burial will be 1:30 p.m. Saturday at St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, Valley Falls, KS.  Visitation will be at Warren-McElwain Mortuary in Lawrence from 5-8 p.m. Friday, November 18, 2011 with a rosary recited at 6:30 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials be made in Clara’s honor to St. Benedict Abbey and may be sent in care of the mortuary.