It was on February 22, 1948, at Daviess County Hospital in Owensboro that Clara Alice was born to Ruth Agnes Higdon Johnson and Justin Aloysius Johnson, the fourth of 10 children. Her parents took her to St. Columba, Lewisport, Ky., one week after her birth to have her baptized and become a member of the Catholic faith. Clara always said she knew she was born in leap year since her baptism was February 29th. Clara Alice continued her education, already begun by her loving family, by attending St. Lawrence School for her formal education. Clara continued school at St. William and then her secondary education was at Mary Carrico High School. Her education was mainly through the teaching of the Ursuline Sisters. She did have three laymen who taught in high school.
Clara, feeling the call from God that she needed to be a woman religious, entered the postulancy of the Ursulines of Mount Saint Joseph on September 3, 1966. She entered the novitiate on August 14, 1967, and was known as Sister Joseph Clara. Sister Joseph Clara attended Brescia College and received her first degree in elementary education and later she pursued her master’s from Spalding College in Louisville in library science. She went on to minister in the classrooms of St. Bartholomew in Louisville, St. Francis Loretto, Ky., St. Romuald, Hardinsburg, Ky., and St. Charles, Albuquerque, N.M. After obtaining her certificate in library science she began her working in libraries. She worked in the MSJ Academy until it closed in 1983, a total of five years. She ministered at St. Mary, Paducah, Ky., and St. Ann, Morganfield, Ky. At Morganfield, Sister Joseph Clara held several ministries and especially loved her ministry to the sick and homebound, helping several persons return to their God.
In 1993, Sister Clara, along with Sister Margaret Marie Greenwell, took a big leap in faith. They moved from the country and small places to the big city of Louisville and began their work at Sister Visitor Center. She became the secretary to the director, Sister Rebecca Miles, and was also the finance person and computer guru. By the end of 1994, Sister Clara was diagnosed with cancer and sometime in 1995 was declared cancer free and lived 10 years without treatment. She prayed, played, lived and worked … then cancer went to the bone, but she continued to work. It was during this time that Clara was voted The Working Woman of the Week, receiving many awards from the radio station honoring outstanding employees. Clara worked at Sister Visitor for 18 years.
Clara knew when it was time that she needed to come home to the Mount and she returned March 18, 2011. She passed away from cancer on June 12, 2014. Her funeral was held on Tuesday, June 17 in the Motherhouse Chapel with Father Ray Goetz as the main celebrant.