Obit of Flora, Clarence Cavert - Oklahoma County, Oklahoma Submitted by: William S. Boggess 19 Mar 2006 Return to Oklahoma County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/oklahoma/oklahoma.html ========================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ========================================================================== Obit Clarence Cavert FLORA (1906KS-1998OK) From the Wagoner Tribune, Wagoner, Wagoner county, Oklahoma, Thursday, October 29, 1998, page 6A. (photo) Clarence C. Flora Clarence Cavert Flora, beloved father of Sally Flora French and Lisette Flora Caveny, died October 15, 1998 at his home after a long illness. He was born October 26, 1906, in Independence, Kansas and grew up in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He joined the National Guard at the age of 16 and first attended OSU (then called Oklahoma A&M) in 1924, where he later met Frances Walls. They married June 6, 1928, and had 58 wonderful year together until her death in 1986 here in Wagoner. Clarence went to work at Southwestern Bell in 1925 and later helped organize the first union there. He served with the 805th Signal Service during World War II, then returned to work at Southwestern Bell where he enjoyed using his creative talents to devise new systems for their clients. In 1955 Southwestern Bell lent Clarence to Western Electric and he spent nine months inside the Artic Circle in Alaska working on the Defense Early Warning (DEW) line. He retired from the Army Reserves as a Colonel in the early 1960's. Clarence was a musician, one of the country's best ululele players of his time. He played the orchestral organ and brought pleasure to many people over the years with his music and poetry. He graduated from OU at the age of 63 and took up karate. He entered his 70's bicycling, lifting weights and running in the Pine Mountains of southern Arkansas, where he and Frances retired in 1971. Despite having lost most of his vision in the early 1980's, he completed the requirements for a Masters degree from OU in 1987, and continued to ride the bicycle around the neighborhood until just last year. Clarence's brother [Carl Morton, 1904KS-1973WI] preceded him in death as did both of his sons, Robert Hayne Flora and Clarence Cavert Flora Jr. He is survived by two loving daughters and their husbands, Bill French and George Caveny, four grandsons, Chris Trey (William H. French III), Kevin and Kelly French, two granddaughters, Sally Rachel and Ann Lisette Caveny. He was a shining example of a great man: honorable, brilliant and kind. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Return to Oklahoma County Archives: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/oklahoma/oklahoma.html