Clare Warner
Death has taken Clare Warner, one-time La Cañada Flintridge bank manager and civic leader.
He died on July 15 at his home in Canton, Ohio, having been a victim of terminal Lou Gehrig’s disease for 29 years.
A Celebration of Life service was conducted on July 20 at Trinity Baptist Church of North Canton where he and his wife, Carole, have been active. Burial followed at Forest Hills Cemetery in Canton.
The retired bank vice president, 75, began going downhill from his illness two years ago following a back operation not related to his ailment. He became bedridden last February and was being treated by a hospice nurse daily. At the end, he had use of only 30% of his lungs.
Canadian-born Warner refused to let his illness stop him from living a fairly normal life as he became treasurer of his church for awhile, served as the first treasurer of the Canton Chapter of the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Assn. and later became president, was an Masonic member who rose to Scottish Rite, which led to being a Shriner, and was also an assistant Boy Scout leader in Canada earlier.
While working in La Cañada, he was on the boards and elected president of the La Cañada Flintridge Chamber of Commerce and Community Assn. as well as the Kiwanis Club, the latter in 1976-77.
Coming from a family of 12 and born in the Ornabruck Township of Ontario, Canada, Warner was initially the manager of Security Pacific National Bank in La Cañada. When the Security Pacific-Bank of America merger occurred, he was elevated to vice president by B of A and assigned to its Pasadena office where he was in charge of serving the affluent customers. He spent a year and a half in Pasadena before retiring in 1986. At that time, he began drawing a long-term disability benefit.
Warner launched into his 37-year banking career right out of high school as an employee of the Imperial Bank of Canada, being assigned to the Bancroft and Nova Scotia branches. He continued his career in the U.S., working first at the Hollywood branch of Security Pacific followed by his banking involvement in La Cañada and Pasadena.
The Warners met at the First Baptist Church in Los Angeles and were wed on Nov. 26, 1983, in Canton. Wife Carole had been an elementary school teacher in Canton for 13 years before moving to L.A. in the same role for another three years in the Los Angeles Unified District. She now works as a part-time secretary at her church back in Ohio.
Besides his wife, Carole, Warner leaves a daughter, Cathy, who begins her junior year at Ohio State University in Columbus in September. Also surviving are three brothers and two sisters, all of Canada.
- By Don Mazen