Claire Yost    (Special Education Teacher/Counselor - Arthur Hill High School) 
1953 - 2010

Claire Kelley Yost came into this world on Oct. 19, 1953. Even while waging a 22-year battle with breast cancer, Arthur Hill High School counselor Claire Yost helped achieve victories in young people’s lives, according to friends and relatives. Yost, 57, of Midland, who died due to the disease Dec. 3, 2010 worked as a special-education teacher and later as counselor at Arthur Hill, where she graduated from high school in 1972. “She was very mission-oriented and loved helping kids, and as a corollary she derived a lot of self-worth out of it,” said Duke Yost, 62, her husband. “When she took a kid who was maybe headed in the wrong direction and got him straightened out, that was the best.” Yost retired as a counselor in 2009, when Arthur Hill chose her as the school’s “Honor Alumna” for that year. Before becoming a counselor at the school, she worked as a special-education teacher there. . Yost also is survived by three children: Samuel Yost of Royal Oak, Caitlin Yost of East Lansing and Kami Yost of Valrico, Fla.

Claire was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1988 and after two recurrences suffered a metastasis in 2002. Of her 22-1/2 years living with the disease, she was able to turn over twenty-one of them into pretty darn good ones with the caring help of Dr. Michael Hurtubise, nurse Pam Topor, and the wonderful staff at East Central Oncology.

Despite having a built-in excuse, she maintained an unparalleled love of life and took the fullest advantage of her time here. Besides devoting extensive personal time in relation to teaching, she was an active and enthusiastic and member of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Midland, both embracing and embodying their belief of acceptance and inclusion. She loved to travel, and did so widely and well. She was also involved in Friends of the Grace A. Dow Memorial Library, the Saginaw Education Association, and a bewildering array of book clubs and quilting events and activities. Intriguingly, she was a founding member of the Midland Streetwalkers Association (as featured in the MDN). She was a quick and ready volunteer at these and other occasions and she maintained a vital and active presence in this world until shortly before her passing. She always came with her irrepressible smile to warm the room, and she will be sorely missed by the many friends who both sought her out and sustained her. It should stand as great comfort to us all that these many good and beautiful people are still with us.

Saginaw School District Board of Education Vice President Beverly J. Yanca said Yost was “like a beacon of hope, a ray of sunshine — when a student walked in her door, no matter what the student’s problem was, she was the ultimate student advocate and she would find a way to help that student out.” Yost taught at several elementary schools and Saginaw High School before joining the Arthur Hill staff in 1988. She won The Saginaw News 2009 “Diamond Award,” given to an educator recommended by parents, former students or peers. “I know it’s a cliche, but as educators, you always hope you will touch a life,” Yost told The News in a 2009 interview.