Clare Kern – 51 Years a Fireman – Missoula Historian
Clare P. Kern Is Dead at 71
Clare P. Kern, 71, retired Missoula fire chief, recognized as an authority on Missoula history, died in a Missoula rest home Tuesday night.
Mr. Kern was born Nov. 28, 1893. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank P. Kern, came to Missoula in the 1880s. He went to the Missoula elementary schools and was graduated from Missoula County High School.
He had the longest record of continuous service of any man on the Missoula Fire Department and retired as fire chief Dec. 17, 1959. He had been a fireman since the age of 16, and had seen 51 years of service in the department. On Dec. 19, 1959, at a banquet in his honor, the Missoula Chamber of Commerce presented Mr. Kern with a certificate of distinguished service and the City Council presented him with a certificate of recognition.
He married Eva H. Hart Sept 30, 1920, in Seattle. He was a member of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit; Harmony Lodge 49, AF&AM; Boy Scout Council; Missoula Cemetery Board, member of the Lions for many years until retirement, honorary life member of International Fire Chief Association and the Montana Fire Chiefs Association.
During his lifelong residence in Missoula, Mr. Kern was an unofficial historian of the Garden City’s happenings. In the years that the late French T. Ferguson’s Oracle column appeared in the Missoulian, Mr. Kern was a frequent contributor with accounts of old-time Missoula.
In addition to the widow, he is survived by two sons, Charles P., U. S. Forest Service, Moscow, Idaho, and Robert F., Plentywood, and nine grandchildren.
Funeral services will be at 1:30 p.m. Friday in the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit, with Dr. Claude Boydston officiating. Burial will be in the family plot in Missoula Cemetery. There will be Masonic graveside services. The body will lie in state until noon Friday at the Squire-Simmons-Carr Mortuary.
Tributes may be in the form of contributions to the Episcopal Church.
The article above appeared in The Missoulian on September 2, 1965.
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