PENDLETON, Ore. — Dolores B. Pittelkow Ryan Clauss, 95, formerly of Melvin, died Wednesday, June 15, 2025, at an assisted-living facility in Pendleton, Ore.
A memorial service will be held in the fall in Melvin.
She was born in Chicago on July 14, 1929. She was raised in Belvidere by her parents, George Pittelkow and Blanche (Simonson) Pittelkow Johnson, and graduated from Belvidere High School in 1947. She married George E. Ryan of Belvidere in 1948. They divorced in 1968.
In 1969, she married Glenn Clauss of Melvin. She resided in Melvin until 2013. She was a talented artist and crafts person. She and her husband owned Clauss Crafts and Clauss Manufacturing and traveled throughout the country exhibiting their shadow boxes and other products. Later, she became the activities director at the Ford County Nursing Home until her retirement in 1999.
She was a member of St. Peter Free Lutheran Church in Melvin. She and her husband were avid cut glass collectors and were life members of the American Cut Glass Association.
She was a life member of the American Legion and VFW auxiliaries.
She moved to Pendleton, Ore., in 2013 to be closer to her daughter. While living in Pendleton, Ore., she was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Eagles, Moose and Altrusa. She loved to play bingo and pinochle weekly.
She loved to bake and regularly sold her pies and tea breads at bazaars or shared them with others.
Surviving are her children, Susan Arkless (David) of Pendleton, Ore., George Thomas (Claudia) of Puyallup, Wash., Timothy of Sitka, Alaska, Terry of Paxton, Todd of Sitka, Alaska, and Tracy of Onarga; eight granddaughters; 16 great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband; parents, stepfather Harold Johnson, birth mother Ruby Cordt, ex-husband, and daughterin law Greta Ryan, as well as many close friends from Ford County.