CLARE FLEMING SPRUNT
November 1, 1926 - June 26, 2022
Clare Fleming Sprunt passed away peacefully on Sunday, the 26th of June 2022, in Houston. She was 95 years of age.
Clare was born on the 1st of November 1926, in Houston, the daughter of Lamar Fleming, Jr. and Clare Evelyn Knowles. She attended Kinkaid School in Houston, Chatham Hall in Virginia and Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, where she was selected to serve in the annual Daisy Chain, an honor bestowed on sophomore students by the graduating senior class.
Following her graduation from Vassar and the end of the Second World War, Clare was a volunteer at Jefferson Davis Hospital in Houston. She then studied art in New York and Paris, and later returned to Houston, where she married Samuel Nash Sprunt in 1956 and raised three sons and ten Labradors.
Clare will be remembered for her generous support of the arts and the preservation of historic Houston – Freedmen’s Town, in particular.
She loved horses and was an accomplished rider. She maintained an active intellectual life through her deep interest in literature and world history. She developed an art class at River Oaks Elementary school, which inspired many students. Her passion for painting and drawing was lifelong. A well-worn bible and handwritten notes on religious thought and texts attest to her profound personal faith in God.
Clare was preceded in death by her husband, Samuel Nash Sprunt; her brothers, Lamar “Billy” Fleming III and Douglas Knowles Fleming; and her sister, Mary Fleming Bolduc. She is survived by her three sons, Samuel Nash
Sprunt, Jr. (Mary Walker Sprunt), Douglas Alexander Sprunt, and Peter Fleming Sprunt; her two grandsons, Joseph Fleming Sprunt and Christopher James Sprunt; and by a granddaughter, Ava Clare Lerner-Sprunt.
The family would like to express their gratitude to Clare’s staff and caretakers who touched her life over the years. They would particularly like to acknowledge Willie Mae Greggs and Robert and Beatrice Ernest for their many years of love and devotion.
A memorial service is to be conducted at eleven o’clock in the morning on Friday, the 22nd of July, in the Cathedral of Christ Church Cathedral, 1117 Texas Avenue in Houston.
Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family during a reception at a venue to be announced during the service.
Prior to the service, the family will have gathered for a private interment at Glenwood Cemetery in Houston.
In lieu of customary remembrances, the family requests that memorial contributions in her name be made to support the fine arts in Houston, the Rutherford B H Yates Museum, 1314 Andrews St., Houston, TX 77019; or a charitable organization of one’s choice.
Please visit Clare’s online memorial tribute at GeoHLewis.com where fond memories and words of comfort and condolence may be shared electronically with her family.