Clara Todd Kaminen

Clara Todd Kaminen, of 3525 W Maple Ridge Road in Rock, MI, passed away 10 days short of her 97th birthday on Sunday, August 11, 2019 at the Bishop Noa Home in Escanaba with her family by her bedside. Clara was born August 21, 1922 in Marquette, MI, to William and Clara (Armstrong) Todd. She graduated from Graverete High School in 1940 and from the St. Luke’s School of Nursing in 1943. She married Edward Kaminen on August 4, 1945, and he was her best friend for the next 62 years until Ed’s passing in September of 2007.

Clara loved nursing and would have worked for free! She was the “community” nurse in Rock and had people knocking on her door at all hours of the day and night. She also helped to establish Rock’s first ambulance service. She was the school nurse in Rock and then at Mid-Peninsula from 1966 until her retirement in 1987.

She and Ed loved going out to their camp; going on fishing trips to Canada; carving life-size animals and people out of pieces of wood they would find in the woods. In her later years, Clara enjoyed knitting sweaters and booties and her biggest pleasure was giving them away. She was a 2-time cancer survivor, which we credit to her positive attitude.

Clara is survived by her son, Todd (Rita) Kaminen of Rock, MI; her daughter, Jackie (Dick) Forslund of Rock, MI; grandchildren, Dean (Shelly) Forslund, Ryan (Christy Keenan) Kaminen, and Darcy (Mike) Getzloff; great-grandchildren, Michael Getzloff, Edward Forslund, Cherish, Colten, Ava, and Adrianna Getzloff.

Visitation will be held from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, August 14, 2019 at the Anderson Funeral Home in Gladstone. Funeral services celebrating the life of Clara will follow at 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, in the Anderson Funeral Home Chapel with Pastor Rell Spickerman officiating. Burial will take place in the Rock Cemetery following the services. A coffee fellowship will follow at the Faith Lutheran Church in Rock. 

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