DORA CLARA (WOODS) PRETE (FROC), passed away in Cardston, Alberta on 8 June 2026 at the age of 92 (a hotly debated topic)
Clara was born on 11 February 1934 (date also debated) near Melfort, Saskatchewan, the fourth of eight children, seven girls and one boy, to Ernest Henry Woods and Velma Adeline Lucy Snider. The family farm was near the hamlet of Pathlow and that is where she attended school. At an early age she learned to play the piano and later the accordion and as a teen she played the organ for the United Church congregation in Pathlow and the accordion with a group of friends for community dances and socials.
She and her sister, Trudy who is barely a year younger than her, were always very close, “joined at the hip” you might say. They did everything together. Trudy began dating a handsome Italian from a neighbouring community and he, as customs were at the time, brought his brother along to chaperone. Well, the electricity was immediate and eternal. The two couples were married 24 July 1953 in a double wedding ceremony. They even went on their honeymoon together. The two couples moved to the Prete farm near Shannonview, Saskatchewan. Eventually, economics led Lyle and Trudy to move to Alberta and after a few years Norman and Clara followed.
Six sons were born to Norman and Clara during the Saskatchewan years. When circumstances prevented having more children they added five wonderful daughters through other means. And because of her immense capacity to love, she mothered dozens more through the years. After Norm’s death she remarried an old friend (one of the members of the musical group from her teens) Marcel Froc. At that time she began mothering his two children.
Most of her working career also involved mothering only then it was seniors she cared for. She worked several years at the Grandview Nursing Home in Cardston, Alberta then as matron of the Chinook Lodge. After her remarriage and move to Massachusetts, she took another job, again in a Senior’s facility where she served until she retired. During that time she also cared many years for 2 handicapped seniors in her home, a motherless Albanian teenage girl who was alone in America for serious surgeries and many others who needed a place to stay, a wedding dinner or a shoulder to cry on. As a result of all this mothering, she never learned to cook for less than 20.
Clara joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints shortly after her marriage to Norman and served in many capacities through the years. She especially enjoyed her time as a missionary in the Bishop’s storehouse with Marcel in Boston and as a temple worker in the Boston temple.
She and Marcel moved back to Cardston to be close to Clara’s family and only a year later Marcel passed away. She has spent her last years mothering and grandmothering her large posterity, colouring countless pictures, playing the piano and her accordion (when she thought no one would hear) and making sure the cookie jar and treat drawer were always full.
She is predeceased by her parents, six siblings, five children and two husbands.
Please rejoice with us in celebrating a life well lived and the reunion she is experiencing on the other side of the veil.
A Funeral Service will be held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Temple Street Chapel (355 - 3 St W, Cardston) on Friday, June 12th, 2026 at 1:00 p.m. Friends may meet the family from 12:00-12:45 p.m. prior to the service. Interment will follow at the Cardston Cemetery.
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Clara was born on 11 February 1934 (date also debated) near Melfort, Saskatchewan, the fourth of eight children, seven girls and one boy, to Ernest Henry Woods and Velma Adeline Lucy Snider. The family farm was near the hamlet of Pathlow and that is where she attended school. At an early age she learned to play the piano and later the accordion and as a teen she played the organ for the United Church congregation in Pathlow and the accordion with a group of friends for community dances and socials.
She and her sister, Trudy who is barely a year younger than her, were always very close, “joined at the hip” you might say. They did everything together. Trudy began dating a handsome Italian from a neighbouring community and he, as customs were at the time, brought his brother along to chaperone. Well, the electricity was immediate and eternal. The two couples were married 24 July 1953 in a double wedding ceremony. They even went on their honeymoon together. The two couples moved to the Prete farm near Shannonview, Saskatchewan. Eventually, economics led Lyle and Trudy to move to Alberta and after a few years Norman and Clara followed.
Six sons were born to Norman and Clara during the Saskatchewan years. When circumstances prevented having more children they added five wonderful daughters through other means. And because of her immense capacity to love, she mothered dozens more through the years. After Norm’s death she remarried an old friend (one of the members of the musical group from her teens) Marcel Froc. At that time she began mothering his two children.
Most of her working career also involved mothering only then it was seniors she cared for. She worked several years at the Grandview Nursing Home in Cardston, Alberta then as matron of the Chinook Lodge. After her remarriage and move to Massachusetts, she took another job, again in a Senior’s facility where she served until she retired. During that time she also cared many years for 2 handicapped seniors in her home, a motherless Albanian teenage girl who was alone in America for serious surgeries and many others who needed a place to stay, a wedding dinner or a shoulder to cry on. As a result of all this mothering, she never learned to cook for less than 20.
Clara joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints shortly after her marriage to Norman and served in many capacities through the years. She especially enjoyed her time as a missionary in the Bishop’s storehouse with Marcel in Boston and as a temple worker in the Boston temple.
She and Marcel moved back to Cardston to be close to Clara’s family and only a year later Marcel passed away. She has spent her last years mothering and grandmothering her large posterity, colouring countless pictures, playing the piano and her accordion (when she thought no one would hear) and making sure the cookie jar and treat drawer were always full.
She is predeceased by her parents, six siblings, five children and two husbands.
Please rejoice with us in celebrating a life well lived and the reunion she is experiencing on the other side of the veil.
A Funeral Service will be held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Temple Street Chapel (355 - 3 St W, Cardston) on Friday, June 12th, 2026 at 1:00 p.m. Friends may meet the family from 12:00-12:45 p.m. prior to the service. Interment will follow at the Cardston Cemetery.
Click to Send Condolences to the Family