James Thomas St. Clair July 1, 1913 - October 23, 2007
Howard Charles Clausen December 10, 1913 - October 10, 2003

Jim and Howard were laid to rest on July 25, 2008.

My brother Joel helped me order a grey granite stone for Jim and Howard's grave.  The names and Eiffel tower were carved by a stone cutter in Hillsboro Oregon and we drove over there (about 40 miles away) to pick it up on Friday, July 25, 2008.  When we got back, my cousin Roger came over to help with the burial that afternoon.  The stone cutter had told us that he would not be able to provide much detail on the Eiffel tower so I was very pleasantly surprised at the resulting quality of his work.

The Cemetery is located behind Smyrna United Church of Christ near Yoder, Oregon, which my family attends.  

I drove my van to the end of the paved driveway in the cemetery to a spot near the cremation gardens, located at the back of the cemetery.  Fields of the adjacent church-owned farm are on the other side of the fence.  We had watered the spot during the day so the soil would be soft for digging.  The plot is at the northwest corner of the garden.  It is immediately to the right of the plot reserved for my brother Terry and several plots from my partner Joe's resting place (and my future place.)

We carried the stone from the car to the grave site.  I dug a hold beneath the spot where the stone would be placed.  It was side enough for the boxes containing Jim's ashes and the one containing Howard's ashes.  Once they were in place, I returned the soil to the hole.  The stone was positioned on top.

On Sunday, my brother Richard and my cousins came to pay our respects to Jim and Howard.

James Thomas St. Clair July 1, 1913 - October 23, 2007

James Thomas St. Clair was born in Richland Spring (San Saba County) Texas on July 1, 1913 to Bertha Christian and Job Taylor St. Clair. He was the seventh of nine children: 4 brothers and 4 sisters. The St. Clair family moved to San Antonio when Jim was about 9 years old. There is a story that Jim was playing with matches and accidentally burned down the family home. That may have been why the family moved.

Jim attended high school in San Antonio and after graduating he went off to Berkeley, CA to attend the University of California. He completed two years when his money ran out and he left to work bussing tables in restaurants. He worked for a time on the building of the Oakland San Francisco Bay Bridge (which opened for traffic in November 1936). In 1936 he decided to go to Spain to study the Spanish language. However he arrived in the middle of the Spanish Civil War and quickly decided to go north to France, which he did mostly on bicycle. And he decided to learn French, instead.

He studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and even got a scholarship after a year. In 1937 he was offered a job as a clerk at the American Embassy in Paris where he worked until 1939, when on home leave, Germany invaded France and there was no job to return to.

Jim worked at odd jobs in the Bay Area until he enlisted in army on April 23, 1941. While at the Presidio in San Francisco, he met Howard Clausen. When America declared war in December of 1941, they enrolled in Officer Candidate School. They were accepted and assigned to Fort Benning in Georgia. They graduated as second lieutenants. Jim was recruited to the OSS (Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency). He was assigned to a military base in the South of Great Britain where he trained French counter spies. Howard was assigned an army war film making outfit in California.

Jim went to France when that country was liberated and was reunited with the men he had trained. In 1945, as an army captain, he was discharged in San Francisco.

Jim and Howard bought a "ranchette" in Paso Robles, CA and drove around in an army surplus jeep. Being farmers didn't appeal to them, so they enrolled in the University of California Berkeley on the GI Bill. They lived in the International House co-op and worked in the dining room to supplement their income. They both graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors: Jim in French Language and Howard in English Studies. Jim was awarded a scholarship to attend Stanford where he got his masters in French.

In 1951, Jim and Howard travelled to France, with the idea of attending the Sorbonne. They weren't there long before Jim was asked to return to the American Embassy to work as a translator. They made friends in Paris, many of whom where American expatriates. There were many evenings of card games, parties and music. One such friend was Patricia (Thomas) Scheuer, who was studying music and later sang in world famous opera houses of Austria and Germany and other European stages. Pat now lives in Berkeley and relived old times with Jim not too long ago.

Howard worked for American movie production companies who were filming in France. One notable job was that as personal assistant to Burt Lancaster. This was a great fit since Howard had worked for Warner Brothers before he enlisted in the army.

In 1966, at the age of 53, Jim "retired". He blamed the tense relations between Charles de Gaulle and the United States that forced staff reductions including his job. Jim and Howard moved to the south of France near Monaco. To add to his pension, Jim took a job with Reader's Digest. He edited magazine articles that had been roughly translated from English to French. He could do this from the comfort of his home.

Jim and Howard made more friends on the Cote dÁzur including Patrick Amtsberg and Christian Braggiotti (of Monte Carlo and Amsterdam) who became life long friends. Patrick has kept in touch and routinely sends Jim's greetings on to his old friends living in France.

In about 1978 it was time to return to the US to take advantage of Medicare. They first took up residence in Pleasant Hill, near Walnut Creek, CA. In the late 1980s, they moved into Rossmoor, an adult community near Walnut Creek, CA. They maintained an active life of playing bridge, exercising in the community pool, ushering at Walnut Creek performance venues.

For the past 10 years of his life, Howard suffered from congestive heart failure. Jim lovingly provided support to his medical treatments. On October 10, 2003, Howard passed away peacefully in his sleep at their Rossmoor home. They had lived together for 62 years.

At the end of June 2004, Jim moved to Mercy Retirement and Care Center in Oakland, CA. He lived there comfortably until October 8, 2007 when he broke his hip. He was learning to walk again, when on October 23, 2007, he quietly slipped away.

He is preceded in death by his parents, his siblings Guy Taylor, Leonard Job, Olga Elizabeth, Rose Agnes, Clement Charles, Bertha Mae, Lucille C, and Eugene Christian. He is also survived by his nephew Robert and Lena Mann of Seattle and Santa Fe, his grand-niece Julia Clair (Mann) and Carlos Garcia and their daughter Katherine Rose, his grand-nephew Bruce Evans Mann. And by his niece Kathryn "Casey" (Conring) and John Tucker Biggs of Bay City, TX, his grand-niece Elizabeth Anne "Debbie" (Biggs) Coppock of the Houston area, his great-grand-nephews Travis John Coppock and Taylor Michael Coppock.

Jim is also survived by Howard's niece Virginia Rowe of Southern California, her four children (Michael and Mary Rowe, Richard and Paula Rowe James and Barbara (Rowe) Huss and Deanna Rowe), great-great-grand niece Courtney Rowe plus many more great-great-grand nephews and nieces.

Jim will be missed by his many friends, some of whom are Tom Daniels, Terry Daniels, Randy Herbig, Bob Chadwick, Charles Benedict, Jon Hidayat, Earl Holliman, Jim Drommond, Patrick Amtsberg, Christian Braggiotti, Patricia Thomas Scheuer, Dr. K. Karim Adour and Marie Emley.