Farmer was involved in schools, his church

1/3/2003

NEW RIEGEL, Ohio - Carl A. Clouse, a longtime farmer in Seneca County's Seneca Township and a leader in county and state agriculture, died Tuesday in Good Shepherd Home, Fostoria, where he had been five days. He was 87.

He had been in ill health recently, his son, Mike, said.

For most of his career, Mr. Clouse grew corn, soybeans, and wheat on the farmstead where he grew up. He raised chickens, hogs, and dairy cows until the late 1960s.

He retired from full-time farming in 1980, and his son, Norman, took over. But he rode tractors and helped out as long as he could.

“He liked being outdoors. He liked working for himself,” son Mike said. “It was a lot safer than the job he had in the factory” after high school.

Mr. Clouse was long active in the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, a U.S. Department of Agriculture agency that administers farm price support and conservation programs. His duties included working with county farmers.

He was former president for the stabilization and conservation service in Ohio.

In 1989 Mr. Clouse was inducted into the Seneca County Agricultural Hall of Recognition.

Mr. Clouse was salutatorian of his 1933 graduating class at New Riegel High School. He later served on the Board of Education for 10 years in the 1940s and '50s. He was a board member when a new high school was built, and the current administration had invited him to be their guest for an open house at the $10.4-million school building when it opens Monday, son Mike said.

After high school, Mr. Clouse moved to Fostoria and worked in a factory for two years.

He served on the parish council of St. Nicholas Church in nearby Frenchtown, Ohio. He was a member of the St. Nicholas Holy Name Society and a past president and 73-year member of Catholic Knights of Ohio, Branch 52.

Surviving are his wife, Rosemary, whom he married Jan. 12, 1939; daughters, Theresa Gable, Marge Kirian, Mary A. Wines, Carol Kinn, and Deb Monday; sons, Bob, Mike, Kenny, Lenny, and Norman; sister, Berenda Schalk; brother, Paul; 24 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren.

The body will be in the Hoffmann-Gottfried Mortuary, Tiffin after 2 p.m. today, with a wake service at 8:45 tonight in the mortuary. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. tomorrow in St. Nicholas Church, where the body will be after 9 a.m.

The family request tributes to the church; the Catholic Knights of Ohio; for Masses at the church, or to a charity of the donor's choice.