Obituary of Clemence John Meyerhofer

Clemence John Meyerhofer

Born January 30, 1944 in Eugene, Oregon. Family home in Junction City, Oregon

Died June 8, 2023 in Union Mills, Oregon.

Clem left this world doing what he loved, which was tractor work.

          Clem’s parents moved from Stayton, Oregon in 1959 to Mt. Angel, Oregon. The family moved to a farm by Carus, Oregon in 1961. In 1967 Clem bought the farm that he was living on until the time of his passing.

          Clem picked berries and beans at a lot of farms as a child. When in Stayton he and his brother Daniel had a paper route. When Clem was old enough he started working on farms for relatives and other farmers. Clem ended up working for the Union Pacific Railroad for a few years. After that Clem worked for Convoy Company unloading new cars from the railroad cars. Another company Clem worked for was Mobile Products. Somewhere in these years he hauled chicken stuff for a couple of years and he worked at     E. V. Prentice in Portland.

Sometime in late 1977 or “78” he bought a Sahtoh tractor with a backhoe. This joined  another Sahtoh that had a rototiller on it. That was the beginning of “Clem’s Tractor and Trenching” business.

In a couple of years he was working completely on his own. In the winter months he would be hauling for fabrication shops. Soon Clem had a trencher, then another trencher, then a bigger tractor, then a bigger rototiller, and more mowers, plows, discs, harrows, wood-splitter, and post hole diggers. His customers were in the hundreds.

          Talk to any hundred people around the Canby area and you could bet that he had worked for at least 30 of the hundred. Clem did garden plots, lawns, fields, and anything in between. He did John’s garden for many years and that was always the signal for John’s two boys to have their annual hole digging project to begin their summer fun!

          Clem had a “little” bit of O.C.D.! He was very particular how his work looked when he was finished. He would go over his work a second time if it didn’t look perfect.

Clem LOVED to fish!!!! There were at least twice a year trips when he went fishing. Out early and stayed till dark if that is what it took.

          In later years Clem and Patty bought a piece of property on the Nehalem. He and his close friend Brian Henden put a dock in so they could go fishing without having to drive or launch a boat. Clem enjoyed relaxing on the Nehalem River; or at Perry South at Lake Billy Chinook with Brian, Nolan and another friend Ken Hostetler.

          Clem married Darlene Springer in 1968;  they had three children;

Carma, Eric and Kenneth.

          He was also married to Edie, and Jeannie (Weiderhold).

          In 1991 Clem married Patty (Steere), and acquired another daughter Amy. Then a son-in-law and 3 more wonderful grandchildren.

          Clem and Patty have had 32 years together.

Clem had the 3 children, Amy, and a son-in-law, 8 grandchildren, and 8 great-grandchildren.

          Clem and Patty’s grandson Dallas, preceded him in death at 17 years old.

Clem will be missed by his family, relatives,

 and many close friends and business contacts.