Appeared in the Duluth News Tribune Thurs., December 16, 1976

Clara Anderson, a pioneer resident of Canyon who helped build a church in that southern St. Louis County community, died Monday in Los Angeles. She was 102.

 

A native of Wisconsin, she crossed Minnesota in a covered wagon as a child and settled with her family in the Red River Valley. Later, among Canyon's first homesteaders, she and her late husband, Frank, cultivated 160 acres of timberland which was accessible only by footpath.

 

It was through the efforts of the pioneer couple that a church was built in Canyon. There, Mrs. Anderson started the first Ladies Aid, which was called the Esther Circle. Mr. Anderson died 30 years ago, almost on the eve of their golden wedding anniversary.  

 

She was a member of St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Canyon. She moved to Los Angeles about 17 years ago.

 

Surviving are four daughters, Ada Smith, Whittier, Calif.; Adeline Jones, Glendale, Calif.; Esther Seifert, San Diego, Calif.; and Helen Jensen, Granada Hills, Calif.; 13 grandchildren, 25 great-grandchildren and a great-great-grandchild.

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