Death Notice: Clarine Ostby Ryan

Novato resident Clarine Ostby Ryan passed peacefully at her home on November 16 surrounded by family, according to Legacy.org.

She was 89.

Ryan was born in southern rural Minnesota, the youngest child of twelve of Paul I.D. Ostby and Emma Gavle Ostby. In 1943 she left her home in northern Iowa for Washington, D.C., and began an eight year career with the U.S. Department of Justice.

She married Frank Ryan in 1945, and they lived in Illinois for many years, where they had three sons before moving to Novato in 1978. Frank passed away in 2002, near their 57th wedding anniversary. Family describes Clarine Ryan as positive, cheerful, and independent. Not only was she focused on caring for her children and husband, she was very close to her extended Ostby family of brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews and cousins, with who she regularly phoned, mailed, and emailed.

She was an avid sports fan and an adventuresome traveler, visiting places like Norway, Egypt, Italy and Greece with her siblings. She was a member of the Novato Historical Guild, the Novato Seniors Club, LITA, and All Saints Lutheran Church of Novato.

Survivors include two sons, Eric Ryan and wife, Pamela, of Pleasanton, with grandchildren Christopher and Dana; and Thomas Ryan and wife, Ann, of Novato, with grandchildren Jason and Ashley. She is also survived by a sister, Edythe Stovern of Colorado Springs, CO, sisters-in-law Bobbie Ostby and Helen Ostby, and dozens of nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be held 10am on Friday, November 22, at All Saints Lutheran Church in Novato, with a viewing on the evening before, Thursday, from 5:00 PM to 7:30 PM, at Keaton's Redwood Chapel of Marin, in Novato. Interment will be at Valley Memorial Park.