Clara Tracy McElvain • 1913 - 2004

Clara Tracy McElvain, 91, 508 13th St. NW, Minot, died Tuesday in a Minot Hospital.

Clara was born on August 20, 1913, the daughter of Elmer C. and Myrtle (Drumm) Duncan near Flaxville, Montana. She was raised in Sheridan County, North Dakota, near Goodrich and McClusky. She attended grade school in Goodrich and Heaton, ND. She graduated from Bismarck Public School in 1932. While attending school, she lived with and worked for Capt. and Mrs. H. E. Stow of Fort Lincoln, Bismarck. After high school, she moved to Fort Leavenworth, KS, to work for the Stow's. She returned to North Dakota and married Harold Rea "Ray" McElvain on April 2, 1935 in Tuttle, ND. They farmed in Sheridan County south of Denhoff. They moved to Hazelton, ND, where she helped operate a hotel, restaurant and cream station before moving to Renton, Washington, where they worked for two years at the Boeing Company during WWII. They moved back to the farm until moving to Phoenix, AZ in 1954, where she worked at Dana Nichols Realty as a secretary and realtor.

Her husband Ray died on January 17, 1982. She continued to live in Phoenix until moving to Minot in September of 1998. She moved to Trinity Nursing Home in Minot in 2003.

Clara was a charter member of the Orangewood Church of the Nazarene, Phoenix, where she served as church treasurer. When she moved to Minot she became a member of the Southside Church of the Nazarene.

Clara was survived by: son, Marvin (Viola) McElvain, Lakeside, AZ; daughter, Nancy Bergstrazer, Minot; 12 grandchildren, Jean McElvain, Peggy Long, Tim McElvain, Quintus Dougan, Cheryl Dougan-Viscardi, Eileen Lyman, Robin Olien, Jeanette Hartley, Mark McElvain, Tracy Oney, Cathy Donaldson and Ruth Bender; 25 great-grandchildren; 11 great-great grandchildren; brothers, Arthur Duncan, Phoenix, AZ, Elmer Ray Duncan, Kingman, AZ and Roy (Jean) Duncan, Scio, OR. A number of nieces and nephews also survive.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband; daughter, Violet Dougan; infant daughter, Clara Jane McElvain; and son, Everett "Bud" McElvain; grandson, John M.Bergstrazer; brothers, Cloyd, Earl, and David Duncan.

Funeral: Monday, December 27, 2004, at 10 a.m. at Southside Church of the Nazarene, Minot, ND

Burial: McClusky Cemetery, McClusky, ND on Monday, December 27, 2004 at 2:30 p.m.

Visitation: Sunday, December 26, 2004 from noon until 5 p.m. at the Thompson-Larson Funeral Home, Minot.

Memorials are preferred to the Southside Church of the Nazarene, Minot, ND.

Officiant: Rev. Scott Mehlhoff

Music: Congregational Hymns
"My Mother's Old Bible Is True" and "O I Want To See Him"
Clara's family will offer special music
Special CD music, "Going Home For Christmas"
written by Steven Curtis Chapman
Ruth Belzer, organist

Honorary Bearers: All of Clara's family and friends

Active Bearers: Mike Oney, Bob Donaldson,William Bender, Jonathan Oney, John Donaldson Isaiah Bender, Steven Simonson

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