Claire Cloninger

CLONINGER, (Elizabeth) Claire (née de Gravelles). b. Lafayette, Louisiana, 12 August 1942; d. Fairhope, Alabama, 15 August 2019. She was the daughter of Charles de Gravelles (1913-2008), a notable oil and gas land agent and a Republican politician in a predominantly Democrat state. She was educated at Louisiana State University and the University of Southwestern Louisiana (BA 1966, MA, 1967). She married Robert (‘Spike’) Cloninger and held various positions as elementary school teacher, advertising copywriter, songwriter, and author. Cloninger worked for Word Music, and wrote and composed music and text for a dozen choir musicals and more than 100 praise choruses and hymns such as ‘If my...