One can wonder about the nature of “family”. Certainly shared personal experience, bonds of love, common values and bonds of place are fundamental to any acceptable definition of what constitutes a family. This explains why certain faith communities, military units, political cadres, and even work groups can attain a strong sense of being families. Sometimes these groups displace or replace blood relationship-based families in the lives of individuals. I have written before about the unique attributes of the Ferriter Family. In this context, I am defining the family in a very broad sense – that of a group of people who share certain genetic kinship,... Read More
Patricia Clare Ferriter was born on April 25, 1909, in Dickinson, North Dakota, to John Ferriter and Katherine McNertney. She began painting as a child when she was in bed for a full year with an illness. In the late 1920s, Clare attended the Massachusetts School of Fine Arts. From 1931-1933 she lived in the Philippines, where her father was stationed as an Army captain. Part of the time she worked worked as an illustrator for The Manila Times, an English-language newspaper. It was at this job that she dropped her first name and from then on used the name "Clare Ferriter" exclusively. She... Read More