Clifford Thomas Stewart

Stewart, Clifford Thomas 90 06/30/1920 02/21/2011 Born June 30, 1920, in Edmonton, Alberta, Cliff died Feb. 21, 2011, at his Wilsonville home. He was 90. As a young boy, Cliff lived in small towns in rural Alberta. At age 12 he moved with his parents, Cliff and Florence; and his sisters, Margaret and Helen; to Wenatchee, Wash. In 1936, the family moved to Salem, where Cliff graduated from Salem High School in 1938. His college education in the class of 1942 at Willamette University was interrupted by four years in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Following the war, he returned to Salem to complete his education in accounting at Willamette University. He married his college sweetheart, Esther Gunnesdal, in 1943. She died of leukemia in 1951. He raised his two children with the able assistance of his sister, Helen and her husband, Roland Clark. In 1963 he married Eleanor Turk with whom he shared 47 wonderful years of life, travel, lovely homes in the Lake Oswego and Wilsonville areas and exemplary devotion to one another. As a CPA, Cliff worked for 34 years in public accounting, retiring as a partner in Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) in 1982. Cliff was one of the founders of the Optimist Club of Lloyd Center, which he served for 20 years. A Mason, he served as master of East Gate Lodge #155 A. F. and A. M. (Ancient Free and Accepted Masons) in 1958. He was an avid golfer and was known for reciting Robert Service poems from memory. A lifelong Anglican, Cliff was one of the founding members of St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church in Wilsonville. He was ordained as a deacon in the Episcopal Church in 1989 and served at Christ Church in Lake Oswego and St. Francis of Assisi in Wilsonville, and as a chaplain at Dammasch State Hospital and Good Samaritan Hospital. Sen. Mark Hatfield, a college friend, invited him to give the opening prayer in the U.S. Senate Oct. 4, 1994. In introducing him, Sen. Hatfield com-mented, "He was one who set the pace, who set the standard, who was a role model. In everything moral, in everything upright, in everything noble, he served as that kind of role model for all of us." Cliff is survived by his wife, Eleanor; daughter, Linda Nelson and her husband, Greg; son, Bob Stewart and his wife, Donna; stepdaughters, Cathy Farley and Lynn Powell; grandchildren, Barry and David Nelson, Carolyn Farley Stoppenbach, Erin Farley Dobias, John Farley and Ian Powell; great-grandchildren, Carter and Sawyer Nelson, Matthew and Kati Kluser, Cody and Ellie Dobias and Nick Nord; and great-great-grandson, Kemper Kluser. A memorial service will be held at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011, in St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church, Wilsonville, located on the Southeast corner of the Charbonneau exit off I-5. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church, P.O. Box 445, Wilsonville, OR 97070.