Ella Clotene Masner was born on Sept. 9, 1930, in Judsonia, Arkansas, the first child, and only daughter, of Clay Homer Williams and Lois McLure Williams.
She died on Dec. 6, 2020, while in hospice care. The cause of death was complications from COVID-19. Her legal residence at the time of her death was Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Clotene, as she was known throughout most of her life, attended grade school in Pangburn, Arkansas. In 1946, she graduated high school, in three years, from Searcy High School, in Searcy, Arkansas, home of the “Cavaliers.” She was the salutatorian of her graduating class. During her sophomore year, she was selected as “Miss Sophomore Cavalier Beauty.”
Clotene attended Ouachita Baptist College for one year, and Harding College, in Searcy, for three years. She later graduated, in 1996 at the age of sixty-five, from Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Services and Psychology.
On June 4, 1948, Clotene married Charles William Masner. Four sons were born of this marriage: Charles Michael, Stephen Clay (wife Miriam), Edward Lynn, and Jeffrey Phillip (wife Kelly).
Clotene worked in banks in Searcy, Arkansas; Lindsborg, Kansas; and in Anthony, Kansas at the Citizen’s National Bank and Trust Company.
Her husband, Charles, began work at the Citizen’s National Bank in 1958, as a teller. He subsequently became President and Chairman of the Board of Directors. Clotene also served on the Board of Directors, after she and Charles became the principal stockholders of the bank. In 2002 the bank was sold and is now Kanza Bank.
Clotene was Charles’s partner in marriage, and in the raising of four sons, and in the principal owner of the Citizen’s National Bank. She and Charles also owned banks in Arkansas and Colorado, and they raised cattle and farmed wheat in Kansas. After the bank sold in Kansas, she and Charles continued in the investment business as principal owners of Plains Investment and Credit Corporation. Clotene continued as an owner and director of Plains until her death, and Plains continues under the direction of her sons.
Clotene was active in Athena Club, and she liked to play bridge. She also liked to play the piano. She was a member of the First Baptist Church in Anthony, Kansas, where she sang in the choir, and sometimes sang solos and in duets as a part of the church’s services.
Clotene was preceded in death by her parents, and by her younger brothers, Carol and Gale, and by her husband Charles, who died on March 8, 2019, after he and Clotene had been married for over seventy years. In addition to her sons, and their respective spouses, she is survived by her younger brother, Richard (wife Anita), and by her grandson Alan Daniel (wife Katy), and by her great-grandsons Nathan Alan, and Alan Daniel, Jr. She is also survived by her brother-in-law Tommie (wife Floy), and brother-in-law Neil (wife Shirley), and by nieces and nephews and their children.
Clotene loved happy endings. Those who loved Clotene are happy they had the gift of her life.
Memorial services will be held at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
