Imogene “Jean” (Rinker) Clerget, 94, of Monticello, passed away on October 15, 2017 at White Oak Heath Campus.

 

For several years Mom talked about writing her own obituary. She would say, “Who would have thought that a little farm girl from Monon would have such an interesting life?” But she was always busy and didn’t get the obituary written.

 

(Ruth) Imogene Rinker was born at home on Dec. 30, 1922 on a farm northeast of Monon, IN. She was the fourth of five children born to Alfred Winston Rinker and Ruth (Brown) Rinker. Mom attended school in Monon, graduating from Monon High School in April 1941.

 

Only 7 ½ months after graduation, on Dec. 7, 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor changing everyone’s lives forever. Imogene’s mother had died of cancer in Sept. 1941, so for two years Mom stayed home and kept house for her Dad and brothers. Then for the last two years of the war she lived in South Bend and worked at the Bendix Aviation Corporation as an inspector of small airplane parts.

 

The Pearl Harbor attack occurred one year after our dad, Gerald Clerget, had been honorably discharged from a 4-year enlistment in the US Navy. Feeling sure he would be drafted, he chose to enlist in the Army Air Corps (later becoming the US Air Force) in March 1942 in order to become a pilot. Dad received his pilot’s wings in Oct. 1942, and in July 1943 he was sent to the China, Burma, India Theatre of War. He spent 26 months overseas returning in Sept. 1945.

 

On Oct. 21, 1945, Mom and Dad were married in the Bedford church near Monon where they had met more than 4 1/2 years earlier. He preceded her in death.

 

For the next 15 years they lived wherever the Air Force sent them, including several states in the US and 2 overseas tours - 3 years in England and 2.5 years in France.

They moved to Monticello in 1960 when Dad retired from the Air Force. He worked at the Monticello Post Office until his death on September 29, 1979.

 

In 1962 there was a contest in Monticello to name streets in a new sub-division, she named the street Cherrydale Drive.

 

In 1967 Mom went to work at WVTL, the first radio station in White County. She held a Radio Operator’s license, did billing for 3 radio stations, sold advertising, wrote commercials, etc. Shortly after leaving the radio station their house was severely damaged in the devastating tornado of April 1974. A tremendous amount of work went into rebuilding.

 

Mom spent the next 13 years working as a cashier in the Twin Lakes Roosevelt Middle School cafeteria, retiring in 1988.

                              

Mom was very proud that her great grandfather, William Nelson Forbis, built the Forbis Hotel in Monticello, and that she could trace her ancestry back to the American Revolution.