Rose Clonts

Rose Elma Beene Clonts left this world to join Gods Kingdom on Thursday, June 30, 2011.She was a resident at Alexian Village on Signal Mountain since 2007.Rose Elma had many, many friends and was noted for her sunny disposition and kindness. She is fondly remembered and greatly missed by family members, friends, students and parents at school and Sunday School, fellow teachers, and church members. Family members have described her as Saint Rose Elma for her patience and loving relationships.Rose Elma was born in 1922 on Signal Mountain in a log cabin near Bachman School, where her father, W.V. Beene was principal. After graduating from Carson Newman College with an A.B. Degree, she worked for a time in the Maps and Surveys Department at TVA in Chattanooga. She was a member of First Baptist Church in Chattanooga for 80 years, where she met her future husband, Marvin Clonts. She and Marvin were partners in marriage for 57 years. After the birth of her first child in 1950, Rose Elma was a homemaker for fifteen years, before she began pioneering work as a teacher of students with multiple handicaps at Brainerd High School. During her time as a teacher, she earned her Masters Degree at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She held the position at Brainerd for 23 years before joining her husband, Marvin, in retirement.She was preceded in death by her parents, William Virgil Beene and Rose Elma Wolbach Beene; a brother, William Wolbach Beene, of Atlanta; a sister, Charlotte Beene Philpot, of Birmingham; and a son, Dr. Gary Clonts, of Windermere, FL.Survivors include a sister, Edith Beene (Jim) Boswell, of Huntsville, Ala.; brother, Kenneth C. (Barbara) Beene, of St. Louis; son, Dr. Edwin Clonts; daughter, Mary Ann (James) Webster, of Signal Mountain; daughter-in-law, Annamaye Clonts, of Windermere; and grandchildren, Ann Grace Johnson, of Hong Kong, Kathy Clonts, of The Netherlands, Michael Clonts, of Minnesota, Laura Webster, of Chattanooga, David Webster, of Chattanooga, Alexandra Webster, of Austin, Texas, and Emily, Mathew and Justin Clonts, of Windermere. She also had many nieces and nephews.Funeral services will be held at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, July 5, 2011, in the Chapel at First Baptist Church of Chattanooga with Dr. Thomas Quisenberry officiating. Burial will be in Antioch Baptist Church Cemetery in Apison. The family will receive friends from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at the church.Please share your thoughts and memories at www.ChattanoogaEastChapel.com.Arrangements by Chattanooga Funeral Home, East Chapel, 404 S. Moore Road, East Ridge.