Clara Belle (Womack) Hoelck, 101, passed away October 8, 2026, at the Masonic Pathways Nursing Home in Alma, Michigan with family present. She was born on March 9, 1925 to William Carney Womack and Grace (Everhart) Womack in Kiowa County, Oklahoma. Clara lived a long and meaningful life marked by kindness, love of family, and quiet strength.
Clara moved to Oklahoma City in 1943 where she met and married the love of her life, Charles Hoelck, who was stationed at Chickasha Air Force Base. When the war ended in 1945 and Charles was discharged from military service, they moved to his long-time family home in Mystic, CT, where they lived until 1958. They made the short move to Westerly, RI that year to be closer to Charles’s business, Avery & Adams, and to raise their family.
Clara and Charles travelled extensively thanks in part to the generous perks earned through the business, but Clara was most happy puttering in her garden or spending time with family and friends. She and Charles enjoyed square dancing, and she was amazed by all with the elaborate costumes she sewed herself. Over the years she enjoyed her painting and pottery classes and graduated from cosmetology school in the late 60s to help supplement the family income. Many friends and neighborhood ladies would come to her beauty shop located in the basement of the family home on a weekly basis to get their hair done. Her services started at a mere $2.00 for a wash and set. Those were the days!
Clara’s legacy lives on through the lives she touched with her grace and dignity. She is preceded in death by her husband of 54 years, Charles Hammond Hoelck, and her eleven siblings: Robert, Ray, Lee, Tobe, Bud, Dick, Viola, Alwana Fay, Mildred, Meda and Venita.
She is survived by her three children: Omeda Yost of Shepherd, MI and her husband Richard Yost; Charles Edward Hoelck of Westerly, RI and his wife, Cheryl Hoelck; Doris Neff of Carpinteria, CA and her husband Lionel Neff.
Her grandchildren: Dean Yost of Shepherd, MI and his wife, Phyllis Yost; Tara Booker of Charlestown, RI; Kim Yost of Clare, MI; Kevin Hoelck of Voluntown, CT and his wife Jenn Hoelck.
Her great grandchildren: Jalynn Booker of St Petersburg, FL; Nikita Tanzini of Midland, MI and her husband, Tristan Tanzini; Ryan Yost of Shepherd, MI; Charlie Hoelck and Emmalee Hoelck of Voluntown, CT.
Her great, great grandson, Viktor Tanzini of Midland, MI.
“We little knew that day,
God was going to call your name.
In life we loved you dearly,
In death we do the same. “
There will be a visitation at Berry Funeral Home in Shepherd, Michigan on Tuesday, October 13 from 4 to 7 pm. There will be a funeral service on Saturday, October 17 at Peoples Funeral Home Chapel in Lone Wolf, Oklahoma at 12 noon followed by interment at Lone Wolf Cemetery.
