Passing of "Clarence" Siener

Clarence F. Siener, 42, assistant accountant in the Station Accounting bureau of the Auditor of Revenues department at Cleveland, died in hospital there on July 14. He was born at Buffalo and joined the Erie July 7, 1914 as messenger at Black Rock, NY. He was employed at Buffalo until Feb. 1, 1933, when he was transferred to Cleveland. He was a member of the Erie Railroad Veterans Association and lived at 1858 Allendale Avenue, East Cleveland.

Thanks to Google Books, I discovered the above notice, which appeared in a 1942 issue of Erie Railroad Magazine. The above photograph is Clarence (circa 1937) holding his son Richard, with wife Harriet in the background.

Clarence was my maternal grandfather. Officially, his name was Francis Xavier Siener, but I am told that his sisters (for reasons that are lost to time) nicknamed him “Clarence,” and it stuck.

He was born in December of 1899, which means he was fourteen years old when he joined the railroad.