Marie R. Clickner

August 18, 2011 

CAPE VINCENT, N.Y.  —  Marie R. Clickner, 96, passed away at her home Thursday, Aug. 18, in Cape Vincent, with her loving family and friends with her, and Hospice of Jefferson County. 

Born Sept. 12, 1914, Anna Maria Rose Griffin, the daughter of Earl and Lula Harten Griffin, she graduated from Alexandria Bay High School.

She worked as a salad chef at the old Marsden House in Alexandria Bay.  

She was a true “River Rat”, having been raised on a houseboat in the St. Lawrence River, at Alexandria Bay, and loving the St. Lawrence River all her life.  

She married Laurence R. Clickner of Watertown on Feb. 13, 1932, at Sacred Heart Church, in Watertown.  

Mr. Clickner’s family had started manufacturing mattresses in Castorland, N.Y., and eventually had stores in Watertown, Carthage, Lowville, Gouverneur, and Potsdam. After they were married, Mr. & Mrs. Clickner traveled to Florida in the winters, and made mattresses for all the big hotels across Florida. They brought their mattress making machinery in a big truck, and traveled roads that sometimes flooded, and would have to travel up over mountains to avoid the flooding.  

Mr. Clickner became associated with Faichney Instrument Corporation, a manufacturer of glass clinical thermometers, and he later became President. Mr. and Mrs. Clickner traveled to Japan in 1959, in connection with the thermometer business. Mr. Clickner retired in 1966, when the Faichney Company was acquired by Chesebrough Ponds. 

Mr. and Mrs. Clickner spent many winters in Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach, Florida.  

Mr. Clickner passed away in 1972. 

She enjoyed traveling in her houseboat with her sister and family, all over the St. Lawrence River and Canada. She also enjoyed her flower gardens, and being with her family, and enjoying her beloved St. Lawrence River. 

She was a communicant of St. Vincent of Paul Church, in Cape Vincent. 

Surviving are a daughter, Mrs. Harold (Sally) L’Huillier, Brownville; four granddaughters, Lisa L’Huillier Ruggiero and her husband Charles, Watertown, Karen Clickner, Westborough, Mass., Wendy Clickner Prescott, Shrewsbury, Mass., and Jennifer Clickner Engel, and her husband Raphael, Geneva, Switzerland; three great-grandchildren, Rachel and Joshua Prescott, and Tristan Engel; two nephews, Patrick and Michael Simpson, and their families, Alexandria Bay, and Clayton; and cousins. 

Her husband, twin sons, Lawrence Sterling, and Lauren Charles Clickner, and a grandson, Brian A. L’Huillier, all died before her.

A funeral Mass will be said 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, at St. Vincent of Paul Church, Cape Vincent, with Father Richard Kennedy officiating. Burial will be in Riverside Cemetery, Cape Vincent, with her beloved husband, twin sons, and grandson. 

Calling hours will be 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 19, at Cleveland Funeral Home, Cape Vincent.

There will also be memorial masses at St. Cyril’s Church, Alexandria Bay, at later dates.  

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Brian A. L’Huillier Memorial Scholarship of Jefferson County Sons of American Legion, c/o Lisa Ruggiero, 216 Keyes Avenue, Watertown, N.Y. 13601, or to Hospice of Jefferson County, 425 Washington Street, Watertown N.Y., 13601