CLARA LAFONT NUSSBAUM

Clara Pauline LaFont Nussbaum, 95, of Cape Girardeau, died Sunday, August 9, 1998, at the Ratliff Care Center.

She was born June 21, 1903, at Conran, Mo., the second child of four and daughter of Judge LaFayette and Clara Vaughn (of Tamms, Ill.) LaFont. She later came to Cape Girardeau to attend Central High School and graduated at the 10th Commencement in 1921 receiving the 1st Place Award in Public Speaking from Board Member H.A. Nussbaum (her future father-in-law) and then President of the local Farmers & Merchants Bank (32 years). Clara LaFont and Elmer Strom were listed as "star debaters" of the Senior Class in the "Central Clarion;" and she received numerous awards for her acting ability in Red Dagger Dramas.

She attended Southeast Missouri Teacher's College and obtained a teaching certificate in 1923. She then attended Peabody College in Nashville, Tenn., to continue her education and dance lessons. She later taught in the public schools of Festus, Mo. and in Florida and gave dance lessons.

She married Henry Weldon Nussbaum (former Chief Electrical Engineer for Missouri Utilities) on August 2, 1928, at the Methodist Church in Sikeston, Mo. and became a homemaker. Mr. and Mrs. Nussbaum came to Cape Girardeau in 1936 and attended the Centenary Methodist Church where she has been a member since 1936 and taught the adult Women's Sunday School (Wimodausis Class) for over 20 years.

Clara organized the first "Brownie Troop" in Cape Girardeau at the Franklin School in 1939. She has been a member of both the Cape Girardeau Order of White Shrine and St. Mark's Order of the Eastern Star Chapter 167 for over 75 years. She was instrumental in organizing the Cape Girardeau Chapter of Job's Daughters Bethel #51 in 1962. In the Cape area, Clara was an active member of the Wednesday Club, an organizer and President of the W.C.T.U. (Women's Christian Temperance Union), and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, New Madrid, Mo. She was a Rotary Ann of the Cape Girardeau Rotary Club and honored as a Paul Harris Rotary Fellow.

She is survived by a son, Henry W. Nussbaum, Jr. of Endicott, N.Y.; three daughters, Mary Carlyn Rivera of Seattle, Wash; Lucy Ann Michalides of Phoenix, Ariz.; and Nancy (Nan/Mrs. Van) Robinson of Cape Girardeau, Mo. She has 14 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren and a brother, Judge Harold LaFont of Plainview, Tex.

She was preceded in death by her husband in 1992, her parents, two half sisters, two half brothers, and a sister and brother.

Visitation starts at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 15, 1998 at Ford and Sons Mount Auburn Funeral Chapel. An Eastern Star service will be held at 10:45 a.m. and all visitors are encouraged to remain for the funeral service of music and praise at 11:00 a.m. with the Reverend James Sanderson officiating. Interment will be at Memorial Park Mausoleum.