Claralice Hanna Wolf died on March 30, 2016. Claralice was born in Lampang, Thailand, on March 4, 1921, to Loren Stanley Hanna and Hazel Brunner Hanna, both of California. Both parents served as life-long missionaries in Thailand.
Claralice was educated at Kodaikanal International School in Tamil Nadu, India, and at Wheaton Academy and Wheaton College in Illinois, graduating in 1943. While a first-year student at Wheaton College she met Carl Wolf and abandoned her plan to become a medical missionary in favor of life as a minister’s wife. She and Carl were married in August 1943.
Carl’s pastorates took them to Massachusetts, West Virginia, New Jersey, Kentucky and Ohio. Claralice was always active in church work and community. While in New Jersey, she worked as a librarian in several locations.
In Findlay, Ohio, she also started to contribute to church debates around feminism and the importance of a feminist perspective in Christianity. She began to paint and showed pictures as a member of the local art league. She also began to write, publishing numerous short stories and a novel. One is a book based on her childhood memories of Thailand, called “Where Flows the River Twee.”
In retirement, she was involved in the Bluffton Presbyterian Church.
Claralice is survived by her husband Carl Wolf of Bluffton, son Eric Wolf of Santa Fe, daughters Karen Wolf of Hartford and Rosemary Proctor of Toronto, by grandchildren Sam Wolf (Mary Wolf) and Allison Proctor (Andrew Norrie), and by great-grandchildren Sydney, Daniel and Jackson.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 2, at 10:30 a.m., at Maple Crest, 700 Maple Crest Court, Bluffton. In lieu of flowers, please make contributions in Claralice’s memory to your church or to the charity of your choice. Online condolences may be expressed at www.chiles-lamanfh.com
