Heaven Needed a Gardener
Clare Witcomb (1933-2024)
On Friday, April 12, 2024 Clare Witcomb passed away peacefully at her home in Red Lodge, Montana with family present at her bedside.
Clare Wells Hardy was born on October 23, 1933 in St. Louis, Missouri to Samuel Jerome Hardy of Utica, New York and Mary Charles Mitchell Hardy of Charleston Illinois. She was the third of four children; Shera, Molly, Clare and Sam (her sole surviving sibling).
During her developmental years, her family moved several times and she attended schools in Houston, Dallas and Kansas City before graduating from high school in Kirkwood, Missouri (a suburb of St. Louis) in 1952.
In high school, “Buggs” as she was known at that time by her friends, was a member of pep club, a cappella choir, English discussion group, president of the Spanish club, and participated in girls sports - demonstrating several passions she maintained throughout her life.
This time in life also offered an early insight into her passion for developing and maintaining strong and long lasting friendships. Clare kept in touch with many of her friends from high school, later officially calling themselves the LLLAMAS… Lovely Ladies Living After Menopause Association. (They were originally going to call themselves the ‘Yaya Sisters’, but the name was already taken.) Later, the surviving members of the group would continue to take trips together, going on 20 adventures between 1999 and 2020.
She attended one year at Washington University in St. Louis (along with her sister Molly) and pledged to the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority where both her sister Molly and her mother were members. While there she performed in a Kappa Kappa Gamma quartet “The Blue Notes” even performing on local TV in East St. Louis.
After a year of University, she moved to the Phoenix area with her dad and oldest sister Shera. While there, Clare further pursued her love of music, and specifically Jazz, as she worked at a Jazz radio station where she met her first husband, Dale, a friend of the DJ at the station.
Clare married Dale Moseley with whom she shared three children; Laura, Claudia and Erik.
In 1981, Clare married Richard “Dick” Witcomb and extended her family to include Dick’s five children; Paul, Kevin, Laurie, Jody and Stacey.
In 1988, Clare and Dick retired to Red Lodge residing in Tee Pee Village where they lived until Dick passed away in 2000. Shortly after Dick’s passing, her sister Molly joined her in Red Lodge and they lived at the golf course until Molly’s passing in 2018, at which point she moved to her final home on the valley floor in Red Lodge.
Clare adopted Red Lodge and Red Lodge adopted her. Clare was named Red Lodge Citizen of the year in 2015 for her tireless hours (days, weeks, months...) of volunteer time at the Yellowstone Wildlife Sanctuary and other places throughout town.
In her final years, Clare waged a valiant fight with COPD and refused to let it keep her from living.
She continued to meet weekly with “The Lunch Bunch” a group of Democrat ladies of which she was a proud member and an active supporter. She was also a proud member of a local Beta chapter, a group of women who raise money for scholarships for women. Additionally, she continued to garden, and to “supervise” gardening when she wasn’t quite up to doing the heavy lifting herself. She remained an active part of the Yellowstone Wildlife Sanctuary to which she had dedicated so many years of her life. She also continued to enjoy Beartooth Humane Alliance Bingo which was another of many causes near and dear to her. She played more cards than anybody in the room and her winnings always went back to BHA.
Her 90th Birthday ‘Extravaganza ’ at the Pollard Hotel in 2023 was a fun celebration of her life attended by friends from near and far.
Clare continued enjoying her passions including gardening, jazz, friends, animals and nature and continued checking things off her “bucket list” until the very end.
She will be missed by all who had the privilege of knowing her.
Clare’s family is hosting a celebration of her life at Yellowstone Wildlife Sanctuary on “Clare Witcomb Day” (Saturday, June 1, 2024) from 1:00-4:00pm. In honor of Clare, the Sanctuary is offering free admission to everyone all day.