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Clarice Jane Burke

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Clarice Jane Burke (nee Carlson) died in Sun City, Arizona on August 12, 2022. She was 96 years old. Clarice was born in Ely, Minnesota on January 8, 1926. Her father’s job as a Game Warden protected the family from most of the hardships of the Great Depression. After graduating from high school in 1944, Clarice moved to California, went to secretarial school and did a bit of modeling. She got a job with Standard Oil Co. of Indiana (now a part of BP) in Chicago. There she met Norman F. Tietze, a young pipeline engineer, and they married in 1949. They had three children: Thomas, Frances, and Fred. The family moved no less than 20 times throughout the Midwest as Norman’s career advanced. In 1959, they moved to Downers Grove, IL, outside of Chicago and stayed there until 1970, when Clarice and Norman divorced. In 1972 Clarice met the love of her life, Jack Freiday, moved with him to Sun City, AZ and married him in 1975. They lived there happily until Jack’s passing in 1980. Clarice always loved cats. She also loved parakeets, a combination that allowed us to learn first-hand the principles of dive bombing and ground defense. We recall only one casualty from those maneuvers (and it wasn’t the cat). In Sun City, she took her love of cats further and founded Sun Cities 4 Paws Rescue, incorporating it in 1996 and serving as its first President. The following year, she donated the money for 4 Paws to buy a rescue shelter building in Peoria, AZ that it continues to operate today. Clarice was a creative, skilled, and resourceful crafts artist. She was talented at sewing, lapidary (gem jewelry), sand castings, quilting, beadwork, and many other things. She made tiny folded paper boxes, with lids, which were in constant demand by her friends. She learned to play guitar by a public television lessons series, and then had Fran and Fred take the class the following season in reruns. She was an attractive woman who never wanted her picture taken. She stayed fit well into her 80’s with dance, synchronized swimming, and walking. She played bridge and loved wine. She could sing from start to finish almost every song from the 40’s and 50’s. She managed her finances shrewdly. Clarice leaves behind her three children mentioned above, four grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. She also remained close with Jack’s three daughters, Jackie Finch, Shirley Irwin, and Beth Freiday. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that any donations in Clarice’s memory be made to Sun Cities 4 Paws Rescue, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization, at 11129 W. Michigan Ave., Suite 1, Youngtown, AZ 85363 or on line at 4pawscatrescue.org.