~ Hon. Clara Olive Snyder Shepherd ~
1906 - 1976
by Thomas Mitchell Blaise Shepherd, Esq.
*Click on each picture for more data* ~ Best Wishes To All ~ Tom Mitchell Shepherd
a/k/a Tom Blaise Shepherd - 1964
click to view Tom Online
National Park Seminary
Forest Glen, Maryland
biographical sketch
Mabel John Helen Mitchell Clara Olive
Mabel Mitchell Snyder
Honeymoon, January 1935
Spring River, Kansas - Tom Shepherd Photographer
Clara Olive's Homes
Guanajuato
Joplin I Joplin II
****
Clara Olive Snyder was born in Piqua, Ohio on February 16, 1906. The daughter of Mabel Darlington Mitchell and John Abbott Snyder, she was reared in Galena, Kansas and Joplin, Missouri, where she studied the violin with virtuoso Rhetia Hesselberg, aunt of screen actor Melvin (Hesselberg) Douglas.
Clara Olive was a childhood friend of screen actor
Bob Cummings and Bob's first wife, Emma Myers (Gaines),
of stage and screen actor John (Bleidung) Beal, and of
stage and screen actor Iris (Dobson) Korn and
photographer Tom Korn.
She graduated from National Park Seminary, Forest Glen, Md. in 1926.
then attended University of Kansas the following year,
where she was affiliated with Pi Beta Phi social sorority.
Clara Olive was a first cousin of Grace Johnson Davis, Munice, Ind.
and second cousin of Margaret (Peggy) Johnson,
who became the wife of Senator Barry Goldwater in 1934.
In 1928, Clara Olive and Charles "Ginger" McCulloch,
romantically involved since early childhood, were married, then divorced
a year later. Ginger later served as an aide to Vice President Richard Nixon
and to California Governor Ronald Reagan.
Clara Olive married mining engineer Dudley Eugene Blaise, son of oil baron
E. F. Blaise, in 1934, by whom she sired two sons, John Dudley (Jr.) and Tom.
Following a divorce on grounds of desertion of her and their two infant sons,
Clara Olive married electric power company treasurer Charles Shepherd,
a native of England and of New York City, in 1949.
Mr. Shepherd committed suicide in New York City in 1955.
A violinist, pianist, pipe organist, choreographer and director,
she produced musical variety shows for civic organizations throughout the USA during the 1940s for Kay Chandler, Founder of Chandler Productions.
Clara Olive was also affiliated as a fund raiser with the American Cancer Society,
the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation and the American Arthritis Foundation, and a member of the board of directors
of the Jasper County Missouri Heart Association.
Clara Olive was also a member of the board of directors of Joplin Little
Theater and Joplin Woman's Club. She was president of Ozark Writers Guild
and an organizer & sponsor of the St. Philip's Episcopal Church
Young Peoples Service League, of which her two sons were officers.
A long-time leader in Missouri Republican politics,
she was also recognized for her editorials endorsing the candidacy of
Missouri State Senator Richard M. Webster of Carthage.
A photographer, moviemaker and landscape and portrait artist, Clara Olive took up the art of weaving during the 1950s. She created her own designs on her hand loom, including finely woven placemats, which are now collector's items.
The Art of Weaving
by Clara Olive Shepherd
+
* Kay Chandler, Founder-Producer *
* Clara Snyder Blaise, Producer-Director *
Minstrels ~ Revues ~ Nationwide
Clara Olive's NPS Roommate 1926 Dorothy "Dottie" Simpson Clara Olive is Dottie's Maid of Honor
Elmira, New York
National Park Seminary 1926
Clara Olive's Mom "Gram"
Tom Shepherd
Thomas Mitchell Shepherd
June 1955 - Charles Shepherd Funeral Held in New York - June 1955
The Classical Music Archives
J.S. Bach Beethoven Brahms Chopin Debussy Handel Haydn Liszt
Mendelssohn Mozart Schubert Schumann Tchaikovsky Vivaldi and more
Connect
+
Profile of Clara Olive Shepherd