Clara E. Wert

Clara Elizabeth (Neumann) Wert

Nov. 15, 1927 — Nov. 16, 2025

Clara Elizabeth (Neumann) Wert slipped away peacefully in her sleep at home in Oakwood, Ohio, on Nov. 16, 2025, the morning after her 98th birthday.

Clara was born on Nov. 15, 1927, to Clara and John Neumann in Fountain Hill, Pa., and spent her youth in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. She and her sister, Grace, attended elementary school in a one-room schoolhouse in Springtown and a two-room schoolhouse in Schoenersville.

Clara suffered from asthma nearly daily during her childhood. Because of this, she missed a lot of school; one year she attended only 17 days. She could not be physically active, so she often worked on jigsaw puzzles — a hobby she enjoyed well into her 90s.

Later in her childhood, Clara’s parents opened and ran Neumann’s Dairy in Allentown, Pa. Area farmers brought milk to the dairy to be processed, and Clara remembered Mr. Miller delivering his milk in a horse-drawn buggy.

The Neumanns moved to Catasauqua, Pa., when Clara was a teen. Her asthma largely cleared up. She attended Catasauqua High School, where she was a member of the debate club and a cheerleader. She graduated in 1946. She then attended Allentown Business College, completing the 18-month secretarial program in 15 months and graduating in December 1947.

During World War II, Clara wrote letters to several Catasauqua boys who were serving in the military. Raymond E. Wert, Jr., who graduated from CHS in 1945 and then enlisted in the U.S. Navy, eventually became her favorite. Their relationship matured when Raymond returned home, and they were married on July 29, 1949, at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Catasauqua. They had three children. As the family moved from Catasauqua to Allentown, Pa.; Woodville, Ohio; Milesburg, Pa.; Woodville (again); Bettendorf, Iowa; and Queensbury, N.Y., Clara and Raymond made many treasured friends. Unfortunately, their marriage was cut short by Raymond’s death in 1983.

Throughout her life, Clara was a happy and extraordinarily friendly woman. She frequently began conversations with strangers based upon their Pennsylvania, Ohio, or Iowa license plates. Her children’s friends were always welcome in the Wert home, and Clara attended many a piano recital, Cub Scout Pinewood Derby, concert, and school sporting event. She was a co-leader of a Girl Scout troop in Bettendorf, Iowa, and part of a parent group that founded a booster program for the Queensbury (N.Y.) High School Band.

Clara was fiercely independent, often driving hundreds of miles alone to visit family and friends. She and three friends drove across the country to California, visiting notable sites along the way. She traveled several times to Fairbanks, Alaska (she had to be dissuaded from driving); twice to Albuquerque, N.M.; to China in 1986; and to Germany and France in 1990.

Clara was active in the Order of the Eastern Star, Welcome Wagon, and her church congregations. She volunteered at the Prospect CP Center in Queensbury, N.Y.; was elected Worthy Matron of her Eastern Star chapter in Oregon, Ohio; and served as treasurer of both the Glens Falls Symphony and the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Glens Falls, N.Y. — the latter for 25 years. Her hobbies included baking, sewing, quilting, knitting, rug-hooking, and completing crossword and jigsaw puzzles. She also enjoyed playing cards and word games.

Clara continued turning strangers into friends during the remainder of her life, which included four years living in Red Hook, N.Y., and nearly seven years in Oakwood, Ohio.

Clara’s working life included stints as a secretary at the Buckalew Sign Co., the law firm of Julius and Isadore Rapoport, Fuller-GATX (not the brush company) Co., and the Northampton School District, all in the Lehigh Valley. Later in life, she worked as a cashier at a Sears store in Glens Falls, N.Y., and as a clerk in the Queensbury, N.Y., office of the John Hancock Insurance Co. She was famous at church and work for the homemade baked goods she often brought in — especially her coffee cakes.

Clara is survived by her children Kay (Mark) Wert Minardi, of Oakwood, Ohio, James (Dione), of Fayetteville, Ark., and Richard (Christina), of Red Hook, N.Y.; her grandchildren Clara Minardi, Cory Rosauer, and Matthew, Tabitha, Danielle (Neubauer), Jessie, Christian, David and Adam Wert; and 17 great-grandchildren, Alexis, Charlotte, and Natalie Freed, Damien, Tristan and Levi Neubauer, Hailee, Harper and Knox Rosauer, Amaya and Analisa Sanchez, and Mattie, Ava, Caiden, Jace, and Kasey Wert. She also had numerous nephews and nieces.

Clara’s funeral will be at 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, at Mighty Fortress Lutheran Church, 2841 E. Dorothy Lane in Kettering, Ohio. A luncheon will follow in the church fellowship hall. Ash burial will occur at a later date in Bethlehem, Pa.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent in Clara’s memory to Ohio’s Hospice of Dayton, at 324 Wilmington Ave., Dayton, OH 45420.