Our mother Clarice E. (Mudge) Ward was born on April 25, 1921 in Memonimee, Michigan to Arthur O. Mudge and A. Ann (Casey) Mudge. She passed away on February 2, 2019 in Milton-Freewater, Oregon surrounded by many of her family. Her family moved around a lot in Minnesota as her dad was a carpenter and he took jobs wherever he could find one. After the family had grown, adding two more girls and a son, her parents divorced and her mother took the girls to Cloquet,Minnesota where they grew up. Mom's preteen and teenage years were not easy growing up in the depression era but she managed to survive.  She was sick a lot. She got pneumonia several times, she poured scalding hot water on herself while taking a bath in a tin tub, She caught her coat on fire while burning leaves and burned her legs, and she survived it all. Clarice's mother married Enio (Bill) Johnson and mom gained another sister Renee. One of mom's favorite things was to read to her sickly uncle Raymond as no one else would take the time. He loved poetry and hearing about faraway places. That started her love to travel and seeing interesting sites. She met her best and longtime friend in grade school who would become her sister-in-law. During those years she would meet our dad whenever he was back in Clouquet, MN. In 1940, when he was home on leave, and after dating secretly, they eloped to Morehead, Minnesota and got married January 30, 1941. They were married a second time in Cloquet, MN on February 8, 1941 in the Catholic Church. They left to go to Barksdale Field, Louisiana where our dad was stationed. After moving about 10 times in the first year of marriage they settled in Dothan, Alabama where the first of their nine children were born. Two more girls and two more boys were to follow and each time there was a new place to live; Florida, Texas, Columbus Georgia, and Atlanta Georgia. Mom didn't seem to mind that about every three years they had to pack up and move somewhere else. Daddy was sent to Minneapolis, so mom and the five kids went to Cloquet, Minnesota to live with our Ward grandparents for the next few months. Daddy was then transferred to Ladd Field in Fairbanks, Alaska. Off we went mom, dad, and five kids traveling the Alkan Highway. It took us 10 days to get there in September 1950. A sixth baby was born in 1952, another boy. While in Fairbanks mom was involved with Women of the Moose Auxiliary. She was voted Mom of the Year and was involved in the VFW. She held many offices for the Women of the Moose, getting to travel by plane to Ketchan, Alaska and several other places that could only be reached by air. Life in Alaska was great. It was cold but you got used to it and the summers never seem to end. We did a lot of Sunday drives to see the countryside. After three years we were off again. This time six kids, a dog and a cat and mom and dad. Back down the AlKan Highway to Spokane, Washington where we would stay for the next 65 years. The last three of the nine children were born at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, Washington from 1957 to 1962. How mom found time to do all the things she did we don't know. She and our dad still belong to the Moose Lodge and the VFW (Mom was a lifetime member of the VFW Post 51 Auxiliary) where they held many offices and attended many conventions. Mom would plan those trips so they could see the sights in each place they went. She was also a Girl Scout leader for her daughter, Mary's troops and a Cub Scout leader for the boys' packs. She taught Catholic religion classes for 25 years at Saint Xavier's church. She taught her granddaughter and two grandsons for many of those years, one of which was being a lector at Sunday Masses. She worked 25 years for Pathology Associates in the lab and made many friends some of whom are still in contact. After our father died in 1983 she joined her three daughters and one granddaughter on the Lilac City Drill Team Auxiliary #2 of the Eagles Lodge. They attended many conventions and parades each year. She also enjoyed bowling. She bowled on two different leagues with her daughter where she was named Bowler of the Month in September 2002. She was bowling into her 90's before she quit when she moved to Milton-Freewater to live with her daughter Mary. Clarice enjoyed knitting and quilting in her later years and made many items for family members. She also collected statues of birds. Hummingbirds were her favorite along with butterflies. She was also a stamp collector and her collection began in her very young years. Her love of traveling never seemed to end. When she was in her 80's, she travel to Mexico to live for three to four months with her younger sister Renee and her husband. They took several trips to different places so she could see the sights. On her 90th birthday Mary took her to Hawaii and she went up in a helicopter and toured the volcano. She is preceded in death by her father and mother Arthur and Ann Mudge, her three sisters Phyllis Young, Ethel Curran, Renee Cox and brother Arthur Mudge, Jr., her husband Bernard Ward,  two daughters Regina (Dee Dee)  Fischer, Caroline Ward, and son Arthur J. Ward, three grandsons Timothy Fischer, Gregory Fischer and John Calvin "JC" Ward. She is survived by daughters Grace Ann (David) Kassa, and Mary Ward, four sons John, Robert (Jeneen), David (Adele),  and George Ward, 29 grandchildren, 48 great grandchildren, and 16 great, great- grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews.