Clara Meehan

Clara Genova Meehan, 98, died peacefully on July 26, 2024 in Deerfield Beach, Florida surrounded by her loving family. A devoted mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, Clara had a deep faith in the Lord and a lifelong devotion to the Blessed Mother and the Rosary. She was blessed with an effervescent personality and a love of beauty in all forms, especially flowers, music, and the arts. Born December 9, 1925 in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Clara graduated from Cheyenne High School in 1942 having earned membership in the National Honor Society, as well as varsity letters as both a catcher on the softball team and guard on the basketball team. She was also a musical prodigy who played her accordion to entertain at student assemblies. In the summers of 1938 and 1939, she traveled to New York City with her mother to study accordion with one of the country’s finest teachers. She was accepted to Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa but, after graduating, chose instead to work for the U.S. Post Office in Cheyenne. In 1945 Clara met and married Robert Meehan, a professional drummer and U.S. Army sergeant from Detroit, Michigan. Robert was stationed at Fort Francis E. Warren Army Base in Cheyenne during World War II, and was playing with the dance band at the officer’s club when they met. After the War, the couple returned to the Detroit area, where they eventually bought a home and raised their family. They were among the first parishioners to help raise money to build the permanent building for Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Detroit in 1956. Clara was a long time member of the Rosary Altar Society at OLGC. When Robert’s health declined and he could no longer work, Clara went back to work to support her family of six. In 1962 she was one of only two people hired among dozens of applicants as a typographer and computer operator at The Detroit News, based partly on her ability to type more than 100 words per minute. (She once said her mother advised her to consider taking a typing class in high school just so she would have “something to fall back on.”) She went on to become one of the few women in her time to join her local of the International Typographical Union. She retired from The News after 25 years in 1987. Clara always had a love for radio, theater, and the movies, beginning as a faithful listener to Golden Age radio programs like Fibber McGee and Molly, and Burns & Allen on the family’s floor-standing radio in Cheyenne. She had an encyclopedic knowledge of movie stars (and their romances!) from the Golden Age of Hollywood. She always said her two favorite stars were Loretta Young and Ginger Rogers. Her dream to one day be a part of the entertainment world was finally fulfilled years later when she volunteered at the Macomb County Community Center for the Performing Arts. Eventually she became a paid employee at the Center, where she happily met and provided hospitality for such legends as Andy Williams, Victor Borge, Tom Jones, and Johnny Mathis. She retired from the Center after 20 years. Clara’s lifelong commitment to lifting up the needs of the “little guy” was known well by her family and friends. She was still driving and living independently in her apartment in Clinton Township into her 90s, but recently her declining health required that she move to Florida to live with family. Clara was preceded in death by her parents Vincent and Jennie (DeGrado) Genova of Cheyenne, Wyoming, as well as her brothers John Genova of Scottsdale, Arizona and James Genova of Vienna, Virginia. She is survived by her sister Millie Genova Goggins of Golden, Colorado, her children Jennifer Hammand, Robert (Cathy), Michael (Jody), and John (Elizabeth), as well as grandchildren Vincent (Molly), Jessica, Sarah, Jeffrey, Bobby (Alyssa), James, and Teresa, and great grandchildren Eleanor, Henry, and Adelaide. Family and friends are invited to attend the visitation on Friday, August 9, 2024 at 10:00 AM at St. Thecla Catholic Church, 20740 S. Nunneley Road, Clinton Township, MI 48035, with the Funeral Mass following at 11:00 AM. Burial will take place at Resurrection Cemetery 18201 Clinton River Road, Clinton Township, MI 48038. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to one of Clara’s favorite charities, the Capuchin Friars Soup Kitchen of Detroit, Michigan (https://www.cskdetroit.org).

Clara Meehan

December 9, 1925 - July 26, 2024