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Clarence A. Oster
04/03/1933 — 11/02/2015
From Richland, WA | Born in Madras, OR
Clarence A. Oster
Clarence A. Oster
Clarence Alfred Oster, 82, of Richland, WA passed away unexpectedly at home on November 2, 2015 after a fall. He was born on April 3, 1933 in his maternal grandparents’ home in Madras, OR, and was the second of four sons of L. E. (Red) and Fannie Evalyn Messinger Oster who were homesteaders in the Fort Rock Valley. He grew up in ranching communities all over central and eastern Oregon.
In 1951, he graduated from Crane Union High School, a four-year public boarding school. Clarence then entered Eastern Oregon College of Education in La Grande and worked on ranches and in lumber mills to fund his education. Requiring further funds, he volunteered for the draft in 1953 and served in the US Army from January 4, 1954 until October 5, 1955. Before completing his service, he enrolled in Oregon State University. At the end of fall quarter, he transferred to the University of Oregon where he completed a BS (1957) and a MS (1958) in mathematics, with the help of the GI Bill.
While at the University of Oregon he met the love of his life, Carolyn Ruth Kelts, and married on June 20, 1958. They honeymooned while moving to his job with Cal Tech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and received partial reimbursement for the journey. The newlyweds settled in Montrose, CA and worshiped at the Montrose Community Church where Clarence was baptized. Their first daughter, Karen Ruth, was born the following year.
Longing to return to the Northwest, Clarence began working at General Electric (GE) in Richland, WA on October 1, 1959 and the young family purchased a centrally located L-house. By the time Battelle's Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) had replaced GE, daughters Barbara Lea and Helen Irene (Petra Elena) had completed the family. Shortly after moving to Richland, they transferred membership to West Side United Protestant Church and have remained active members to this day.
During his career, Clarence worked programming computer code to support astronomy at JPL and nuclear physics at GE, as well as, a variety of projects at PNL. He also taught advanced mathematics courses at the Joint Center for Graduate Studies and WSU Tri-Cities. In 1987, he joined Boeing Computer Services, doing projects similar to what he did for PNL. He retired April 10, 1998 from Lockheed Martin Services, Inc.
Clarence enjoyed tromping through cemeteries with his wife while researching ancestors. Other hobbies included reading, gardening, woodworking, and refinishing and caning furniture. After retirement, Clarence enjoyed genealogical and wildflower photography, traveling, vacationing at the Oregon Coast, and most of all, napping. His family is blessed that he wrote his memoirs, Anecdotes and Milestones, which he self-published in 2005.
He is survived by Carolyn, his wife of 57 years, along with daughters: Karen (Brad) Barton, Barbara (Norm) Jones, and Petra (Robert) Eichelsdoerfer; grandchildren: Dan (Audrey), Evelyn, and Ed Eichelsdoerfer, and KaraLynn (Renee) and Ben Barton; step-grandchildren: Casey (Debbie) and Emily Jones; 4 step-great grandchildren; and sisters-in-law Geri, Betty, and Kathy Oster, and Judi (Bob) Enstrom. He is preceded in death by his parents and brothers: Arlie, Jess, and Leonard.
A Graveside Service with military honors was held Saturday, November 21, 2015 at RestHaven Cemetery in Richland. A Celebration of Life Service will be held today, Sunday, November 22, 2015 at 2:00pm at West Side Church in Richland. All are welcome to attend.
It was my pleasure to have known and worked with Clarence at the old Joint Center for Graduate Study. He was a fine teacher whose concern for the students was evident, and whose knowledge of mathematics (he knew many little tricks of the trade that he freely shared with them to help them with their studies) was quite impressive. The students that he helped over the years will serve as a fitting legacy to this fine gentleman who always as I recall was upbeat and willing to help.
Ron Kathren
Yikes! I’m sorry to learn of Clarence’s passing. He and I overlapped at Battelle, PNL, during the time I worked there (1965-1980,) and we often worked in the same math or physics groups.
When I arrived at Battelle, it was with an academic exposure to the Algol programming language, a forerunner of Pascal. Fortunately, my timing was good: Clarence was just about to teach an introductory class in Fortran. Thanks Clarence! That got me started, and I used evolving versions of Fortran throughout my career.
I often conferred with Clarence on finer points of linear algebra and numerical analysis, areas in which he was an expert. And I had the pleasure of co-authoring a few technical papers and documents with him.
To Clarence A Oster’s Family
We’re very sorry to hear about the sudden death of Clarence. He’s enjoying everlasting life. He’ll be greatly missed, but all his happy memories, joyful, and loving friendship will always be with us. May your deep faith in God give you all the strength to cope with your sorrow.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you all, and God’s blessing.
Love,
Bel & Tom Bander
I’m so sad. I had the privilege of working with Clarence for several years at Battelle Northwest. He quietly and efficiently programmed a mathematical cost analysis system for a project of mine. His system worked immediataly and kept the project in budget. He was modest about his contribution. When I was programming a solution to a physical chemistry problem he quietly suggested that I use a mathematical trick to speed the convergence to an answer. He was always like that …a very smart ,capable mind who knew how to solve problems.
And besides being so capable, he was modest, kind, generous, honest, and nice.
He was unique and we will miss him
I loved my uncles soft spoken voice, vibrant smile and twinkling eyes. He was always telling a joke or teasing his nieces and nephew during family visits. I’m so thankful he took time to share his memories and some old family pictures in the book he published and shared with his brothers families. Being the youngest grandchild I didn’t get to know a lot about the Oster boys’ upbringing or the early lives of our grandparents and now I feel like I know about them even more. Clarence was a brilliant man and will be dearly missed.
Love to Aunt Carolyn, Karen, Barbie and Petra. Praying that God will heal your hearts and bring joy with the memories.
For more than 40 years, I’ve enjoyed Clarence’s smiling, courteous presence at West Side; he will be missed by me and many others.
I know our loving Lord will comfort his family and his friends.
It was my pleasure to have known and worked with Clarence at the old Joint Center for Graduate Study. He was a fine teacher whose concern for the students was evident, and whose knowledge of mathematics (he knew many little tricks of the trade that he freely shared with them to help them with their studies) was quite impressive. The students that he helped over the years will serve as a fitting legacy to this fine gentleman who always as I recall was upbeat and willing to help.
Ron Kathren
Yikes! I’m sorry to learn of Clarence’s passing. He and I overlapped at Battelle, PNL, during the time I worked there (1965-1980,) and we often worked in the same math or physics groups.
When I arrived at Battelle, it was with an academic exposure to the Algol programming language, a forerunner of Pascal. Fortunately, my timing was good: Clarence was just about to teach an introductory class in Fortran. Thanks Clarence! That got me started, and I used evolving versions of Fortran throughout my career.
I often conferred with Clarence on finer points of linear algebra and numerical analysis, areas in which he was an expert. And I had the pleasure of co-authoring a few technical papers and documents with him.
To Clarence A Oster’s Family
We’re very sorry to hear about the sudden death of Clarence. He’s enjoying everlasting life. He’ll be greatly missed, but all his happy memories, joyful, and loving friendship will always be with us. May your deep faith in God give you all the strength to cope with your sorrow.
Our thoughts and prayers are with you all, and God’s blessing.
Love,
Bel & Tom Bander
I’m so sad. I had the privilege of working with Clarence for several years at Battelle Northwest. He quietly and efficiently programmed a mathematical cost analysis system for a project of mine. His system worked immediataly and kept the project in budget. He was modest about his contribution. When I was programming a solution to a physical chemistry problem he quietly suggested that I use a mathematical trick to speed the convergence to an answer. He was always like that …a very smart ,capable mind who knew how to solve problems.
And besides being so capable, he was modest, kind, generous, honest, and nice.
He was unique and we will miss him
I loved my uncles soft spoken voice, vibrant smile and twinkling eyes. He was always telling a joke or teasing his nieces and nephew during family visits. I’m so thankful he took time to share his memories and some old family pictures in the book he published and shared with his brothers families. Being the youngest grandchild I didn’t get to know a lot about the Oster boys’ upbringing or the early lives of our grandparents and now I feel like I know about them even more. Clarence was a brilliant man and will be dearly missed.
Love to Aunt Carolyn, Karen, Barbie and Petra. Praying that God will heal your hearts and bring joy with the memories.
For more than 40 years, I’ve enjoyed Clarence’s smiling, courteous presence at West Side; he will be missed by me and many others.
I know our loving Lord will comfort his family and his friends.
Guestbook for
Clarence A. Oster