Clarissa Brinkman

Clarissa (Chris) Brinkman, age 96, Lee’s Summit, Mo., beloved wife of the late Joseph William (Bill) Brinkman, passed away Sat., Nov 5, 2016, at Kansas City Hospice House after a brief illness.  She was a life-long Catholic quietly living her faith daily with simple acts of kindness.  A visitation is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 13, from 1 to 5 at Hogenkamp Funeral Home, Minster, Ohio.  The Mass of Christian Burial is at 10:00 a.m. Monday, Nov. 14, at St. Michael Catholic Church, Ft. Loramie, Ohio, with burial immediately following in St. Augustine Church Cemetery, Minster, Ohio.

Chris was born Jan. 19, 1920 on a farm near McCartyville, Ohio, to August H. and Christine M. (Mertz) Barhorst.  After graduating in 1937 from high school in Ft. Loramie, Ohio, Chris moved to Dayton to find work at Payne Publishing and Standard Aircraft.  She met her husband, Bill, at a dance in Minster, Ohio, and they married in 1943 and had two daughters before he passed away in 1949.  In 1952 she took a job in the office of Lou Frilling Insurance, several years later moved to Top Value Stamps and eventually, E. F. MacDonald Company, where she purchased office equipment and supplies for the company.  In retirement she first moved to Minster, OH; then Phoenix, AZ; and finally to the Kansas City area to be near her daughters.

She was the oldest living member of the Barhorst and Ernst families of Ft. Loramie and made a point of keeping in touch with her many relatives and friends across the country.

She was preceded in death by her mother, Christine, and an infant brother; her father, August, and step-mother, Mary Herbert Barhorst; her husband, Bill; son-in-law, Bernard J. Drees; grandson, Joseph S. Mura; and half-siblings and their spouses, Charlene Homan (Lavern) Schmit, Herbert Barhorst, Clarence (Shirley) Barhorst, Eloise Braun, Emily (Jack) Subler and Margie (Ed) Rethman, and brothers-in-law Werner Homan, Virgil Bruggeman, Werner Bruggeman, and Frank (Janice) Brinkman.

She is survived by two daughters, Barbara (John) Mura and Patricia Brinkman, and three grandchildren, Anemarie Drees Mura, William Brinkman (Mia) Mura and Edward Elliott (Chelsea) Mura and great-grandsons, Joseph, Henry, Benjamin and Simon Mura, and half-siblings, Doris Bruggeman, Delores Bruggeman, Joseph (Wilma) Barhorst, Marilyn (Ralph) Meyer, Martha (Richard) Subler, sister-in-law Clarissa Barhorst, brother-in-law Ivo Braun, special cousins, Nancy Schlater and Deb Martin, and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in Chris’ memory to a food pantry, soup kitchen, homeless shelter or your favorite charity.

The funeral mass will be webcast at:  www.nflregion.org/home/church-cast/ Condolences may be left at hogenkampfh.com.