Marcille Elaine (Staton) Claar

December 27, 1938 – March 8, 2025

Marcille Elaine (Staton) Claar, beloved mother, grandmother, sister, and lifelong partner in ministry, entered her eternal rest on March 8, 2025, after a life marked by faith, service, humor, and a storyteller’s grace. Born in Marshall County, Indiana, on December 27, 1938, she grew up in Argos, the small-town community that shaped her early life, her values, and her deep Indiana roots.

Growing up as the oldest of seven children, Marcille learned early the rhythms of family, faith, and hard work. In one of her own newspaper columns, she recalled childhood “Butchering Days” with vivid affection—the aunts and uncles gathered, the snow stained red, the bubbling cauldrons of lard, and her grandmother shooing the girls indoors because “it’s not fitting for young ladies to see!” That blend of warmth, humor, and memory became a hallmark of her writing and her life.

When she started college, Marcille majored in Spanish with a minor in Bible, originally open to missionary service before discerning a different calling: to be a pastor’s wife. She met the love of her life, the Rev. Herbert E. Claar, when she was a freshman and he was a senior at Marion College (now Indiana Wesleyan University). He liked to say she “caught his eye in Spanish class,” and she liked to remind him that she was, in fact, minding her own business. They married on August 30, 1957, beginning 58 years of shared ministry, shared work, and shared joy.

Together, they served churches in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Indiana, raising two sons along the way. Marcille worked full-time during Herb’s seminary years, taught Sunday school, led youth, directed children’s choirs, and became a Certified Lay Speaker in the United Methodist Church. Their ministry was a duet, each strengthening the other.

Her love for children and her gift for storytelling came together beautifully in her Christmas column about little Buffie Burmeister, a tiny choir member in Punxsutawney who wrapped the Baby Jesus in pink Kleenex so He “wouldn’t be cold in the unheated sanctuary.” Marcille wrote, “That was the moment the spirit of Christmas truly arrived in my heart that year.” Her ability to find holiness in small gestures—and to tell the story so others could feel it too—was one of her quiet ministries.

She was also a gifted cook, a keeper of family traditions, and a woman who believed food could be a form of love. In her widely enjoyed column “My Romance with Ham Loaf,” she chronicled her decades-long quest to perfect the recipe, confessing with characteristic honesty that she enjoyed “two (OK, three)” slices at a family gathering. Her writing was warm, funny, and deeply rooted in the Indiana soil she loved.

Marcille enjoyed reading, music, drama, teaching Bible classes, and writing. She served in retirement with Christian Service International, traveling, speaking, and supporting mission work with Herb. She cherished her family—especially her sons and her granddaughter—each of whom knew her as a steady, loving presence.

Marcille is survived by her sons Victor Vyron and Trevor, and by her granddaughter Ashley Amrhein. She is also survived by her siblings Sharon Petty, Frieda Wong, Edith Harrington, and Vyron Staton. She was preceded in death by her beloved husband Herb, and by her siblings Victor Hugh Staton and Fern Staton.

And in a detail that perfectly captures her spirit, Marcille delighted in reading silly, funny obituaries. She believed that even farewells could carry a smile, that humor was a grace, and that a life well-lived deserved to be remembered with warmth.

Her life was a tapestry of service, laughter, devotion, and stories—some told from the pulpit, some from the kitchen, some from the pages of the newspaper, and many simply lived out in quiet faithfulness.

A graveside service of committal will be held at Maple Grove Cemetery in Argos at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 20, 2026.

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