Mina M. (Ramage) Van Cleef

Mina Merle Ramage Van Cleef of Wooster, Ohio, and Orient passed away peacefully Friday, May 23, at Westview Healthy Living in Wooster. She was 94 years old.

On April 13, 1931, Mina was born to Williamina Moore Ramage and the Rev. Merle Field Ramage in Havre, Mont. As her father took positions in larger churches, the family moved to Bozeman, Mont., when she was 4, and then to New Athens, Ohio, at age 9. There, she immediately joined the local 4-H Chapter. The two things that Mina felt most shaped her early life were her faith and 4-H. In 4-H, she learned to cook and sew, and she became interested in raising animals for show. She raised prize-winning bulls and would say that learning to show them in an arena in front of judges taught her to control her temper and to respect animals. She became a 4-H camp counselor for girls and remained an active member of 4-H until she went to college.

Mina graduated in 1949 from Franklin High School in New Athens, where she played the lead in the senior play, sang in the chorus, played the trombone in the band and worked on the yearbook. She graduated in 1953 from the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio, where she earned a bachelor’s in physical education and met her husband, Don (in the library).

Mina and Don were married in October 1953 by her father, Merle, at Ashland Presbyterian Church. They moved briefly to Cheybogan, Mich., where Don was the first lieutenant on the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw. In 1955, they moved to Mount Vernon, Ohio, where she had her first two sons and a daughter. She also entered the Mrs. Ohio contest, won the regional award — “Mrs. Mount Vernon” — and became a finalist in the statewide event. They moved to Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1959, where she had a third son and became active members in Covenant Community Presbyterian Church. Mina was a founding member of the local PTA and was pivotal in shepherding her four children through the public schools there. In 1971, she entered the University of Pittsburgh and earned an master’s in library science to become a librarian in the same schools her children had attended.

Every summer, Mina and Don would load the four kids into the station wagon (towing the sailboat) for a 12-hour drive to Orient, on the very eastern tip of Long Island, where they stayed in a tiny cottage 30 feet from the ocean. Always returning to Pittsburgh on a Sunday (the sailboat now filled with a year’s supply of Entenmann’s coffee cake), they would time the trip so the family could go to church in Whitehouse, N.J., and the kids could continue their perfect Sunday school attendance.

Mina and Don retired to Orient in 1985, becoming members and Sunday school teachers at Orient Congregational Church. Mina sang in the North Fork Chorale for three decades, and was a member of the Orient Yacht Club and the American Association of University Women. In 2006, they bought a condo back in Wooster and lived there during the academic year, returning to Orient every summer. In Wooster, they became co-presidents of the college alumni association, attended home baseball and basketball games, traveled with the teams to away games and tournaments and mentored incoming foreign freshman students to help them acclimate to student life in a new country.

Mina is survived by her brother, Charles Ramage (Dorita Weaver Ramage); her children: James (Jacquelynn) Van Cleef, Robert (Trish) Van Cleef, Elizabeth (Michael) Van Cleef Lauber and Thomas Van Cleef; her seven grandchildren; and her six great-grandchildren. Her husband of 71 years, Donald Van Cleef, passed away 11 months before.

On Saturday, May 31, a calling hour will be held at 10 a.m. and a funeral service at 11 a.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 621 College Ave., Wooster. McIntire, Bradham & Sleek Funeral Home in Wooster is assisting the family. Inurnment will be held at an Orient cemetery at a later date this summer.

Contributions may be directed to your local 4-H chapter; The College of Wooster, c/o Wooster Fund, 1189 Beall Ave., Wooster, OH 44691; or First Presbyterian Church, 621 College Ave., Wooster, OH 44691. Online condolences may be left for the family at mcintirebradhamsleek.com.

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