Obituary of Evelyn P. Clement

Evelyn Steinhoff was born April 6, 1917 in a Bandon hospital while a military band for World War I recruitment played beneath the window. Her father owned several businesses in Bandon and in Bridge, Oregon until his untimely death in 1921. Through the years, Evelyn, her older brother Stanley, and her mother, Dora, faced many challenges, so Evelyn developed the life mottos of “make the best of it” and “do the best you can.” After the family moved to Myrtle Point, Oregon, Evelyn usually walked to and from school, helped to tend chickens and a cow, and weeded summer gardens. The family used a damp cloth over a box through the wall to cool food. They canned food. When they wanted to take the horse and buggy to town, they first had to catch and harness the horse. Evelyn’s mother and she sewed clothing and did laundry with a copper boiler and a washboard. They used a wood-fueled cook stove. One of Evelyn’s chores was to clean the chimneys of the oil lamps. Evelyn loved school and was graduated from Myrtle Point High as valedictorian of the Class of 1934. Later that month, she and her high school sweetheart, Ralph Clement, were married and moved to Warrenton, Oregon. Son Mike arrived in 1936, and Terry was born in the Astoria hospital in 1939. During World War II, the family moved to Scappoose. Ray was born in 1946, followed by Carol in 1950. In 1952 a leap of faith took the family to Iowa, where Ralph and Mike completed Bible college at Midwestern School of Evangelism. In 1957 they moved to Maine, where Ralph worked on the Voice of America project before being called back to Oregon to care for Evelyn’s mother, who had terminal cancer. In 1959 the family bought property east of Sandy and settled there. Ralph died at home in 1995, and Evelyn on December 2, 2012. She is survived by three sons: Mike and Terry from Rochester and Preston, Minnesota, and Ray and one daughter, Carol Collman, of Sandy, Oregon; 16 grandchildren, 34 great-grandchildren, and 10 great-great grandchildren. Evelyn loved people, especially children. She worked in day care and also taught Sunday school for many years. Her faith was central in her life, and she tried to be kind and pleasant to everyone. She became a positive, loving strength to her family, friends, and the people she met. Towards the end of her life, Evelyn Clement began forgetting some things. During her November hospitalizations, she could not remember even her own name of the names of her loved ones. Even so, she never forgot Jesus. Her faith remained deep in her heart and gave her hope and comfort despite her body’s decline. Several times she would suddenly start singing multiple verses of a hymn, word-for-word. One of these songs was “Ivory Palaces” by Henry Barraclough: 1. My Lord has garments so wondrous fine, And myrrh their texture fills; Its fragrance reached to this heart of mine, With joy my being thrills. 2. His life had also its sorrows sore, For aloes had a part; And when I think of the cross He bore, My eyes with tear-drops start. 3. His garments too were in cassia dipped, With healing in a touch; Each time my feet in some sin have slipped, He took me from its clutch. 4. In garments glorious He will come, To open wide the door; And I shall enter my heav’nly home To dwell forevermore. Chorus: Out of the ivory palaces Into a world of woe, Only His great eternal love.. Made my savior go. Service Information