Clara Taylor

Clara Mae Haverkamp Neu Taylor was born on August 28, 1937 at home in Lindsay, Texas. She was the third child, first girl, of Frank and Catherine Haverkamp.  She was raised on a farm at the South Place from age five to fourteen, where her father farmed and the family all helped to pick cotton.  She and her family moved to the home place near Lindsay when she was fifteen and in high school.  She graduated from Lindsay High School in 1955.

Clara married Michael Neu after he finished his three-year stint in the US Navy on Jan. 23, 1960.   She worked at Pace Brothers Finance Company at the age of 18 and then the Gainesville Tax Office until her first child’s birth.  The couple had four children in six years:  Jeffery, Sharon, Kathy, and Cindy.  When her children were in school and day nursery, she went back to work at Hesperian with Fred Buckingham for five years and then moved to the Gainesville National Bank, working for twenty years.  She was promoted to Assistant Loan Officer and was a favorite of her customers for her friendly personality.  She awarded both Employee of the Month and Employee of the Year at GNB.

Clara and Michael were married for 38 years.  At age 56, Michael was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, fought hard for five years, and passed away on August 29, 1998. Prior to Michael’s death, Clara suffered a tremendous tragedy when her eldest child and only son was killed in a tractor trailer accident in Colorado, hauling live cattle, on April 19, 1997.  Jeff’s death really hurt both parents deeply.

In 2000 Clara started to date and moved to Oklahoma after marrying Tommy Taylor.  They divorced.  Clara moved back Texas, living on Second Street until her death.

When Michael was alive, the couple enjoyed traveling to Germany, Europe, and throughout the US, and working on genealogy for their German heritage. The family enjoyed camping at Lake Texoma and Moss Lake and boating every weekend in the summer.  The six of them even took a 22-day trip through Colorado, and the middle of the United States to Canada, pulling a travel trailer.  Michael documented the trip with his camera, and the slide show even included a bear sighting.   In her later life, Clara enjoyed spending time with her children and grandchildren, shopping on-line, working crossword puzzles, and watching movies, especially the Hallmark channel.  In Clara’s last fifteen years, she was diagnosed with severe Rheumatoid arthritis.  She had a hip and shoulder replacement and both knees replaced as the disease impacted her health. She was a trooper, coming back strong from every surgery and was able to continue to live in her home.

She was a member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Gainesville from 1960 to 2000 and was a member of St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Lindsay from 2005 until her death.  Services include:  Rosary at George J Carroll Funeral Home at 6:00 pm on Wednesday, February 9 ^th and funeral mass will be at St Peters Catholic Church at 11:00 am February 10 ^th .   She will be buried in St. Peter’s Cemetery in Lindsay beside her husband, Michael and son, Jeffery.

Clara Mae Taylor was preceded in death by her mother and father, Catherine and Frank Haverkamp, her husband, Michael, her son, Jeffery, her brother, Frank Haverkamp, her brother in-laws, Denis Neu and Robert Blessing, her sister in-laws, Jeanne Hoenig, Helen Jones, Shirley Dorsch, and Carol Ann Neu.

Survivors include: daughter, Sharon and husband, Dale Hardesty of Tuttle, OK, their children, Ashley and husband, Reed Perryman, of Chickasha, OK, Cody and wife, Hillary Brazelton, of Frisco, TX, Byron and wife, Abby Hardesty, of Tuttle, OK, and Evan Hardesty of Tulsa, OK and their families, daughter, Kathy and her husband, Steven Arendt of Austin, TX, their children, Jennifer Rhoads and fiancee, Carlos Gacharna, and son, of Austin and Jesse Arendt of the Los Angeles area, their daughter, Cindy Green of Lindsay, TX and her children, Madison Green of Brooklyn, NY, and Zachary Green of Lindsay, TX, and Jeffery’s child, Tanya and her husband, Brad Peterson. of Whitesboro, TX and their family.  She has eleven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.  She is also survived by her siblings, Ray Haverkamp, Richard Haverkamp, Alma Bierschenk, and Betty Blessing and Michael’s siblings, Patsy Rohmer, Stella Stinnett, David Neu, Donna Boschert, and numerous nieces and nephews.