Worked at the Willard Hotel when dating Cora Hausmann. He would walk around
the top of the hotel to get her attention. She could see him out of the
window of the ( ). Once at lunch he bought her
balloons. One of them got loose in the atrium of the building and she was
embarrassed when it had to be retrieved by ( ).
Claude also worked at Northeast Motor Company selling Fords. He painted
during hard times and even went out of town to Norfolk to get work. He was a
security guard at the C & P Telephone Company in Washington, D. C. and
sometimes brought home a large bag of hot peanuts from the store on 15th St.
N. W.
When his grandchildren began to get sick from close contact with other
children on the school bus, he volunteered to drive them to and from Mt.
Calvary School. He continued to do this until the last child (John Claude
Thomas) graduated 8th grade. He had a confrontation with a nun when Patricia
Ann Thomas first went to school and was homesick. He told the nun in no
uncertain terms that he was taking Pat home or he would "knock that bonnet
right off her head."
There are papers, written by him, of songs he sang, poems he recited, and
stories he told. He wrote most of them down at the request of his great
granddaughter Anne Marie Wycoff when she was tiny. He was at his happiest
when he was entertaining a crowd.
Pat Thomas has recorded that in the June 4, 1900 census for D. C., Claude was
born in March of 1889 and was 11 years old. He attended school for 9 months.
He was living with his mother (a music teacher), his uncle Bernard Rannahan,
his aunt Agenes Rannahan, his sister Grace (13) and his brother Charles (7).
His mother was a widow. She was renting the house at what appears to be 833
4th N.E.
Marriage Certificate - Rev. David H. Buel, S.J. Officiating with Mabel
Hausmann and Bernard Rhodes as witnesses. St. Aloysius Church, Washington, D.
C. Roman Catholic Church.
Death Certificate - Cholecystitis - Immediate Cause Acute Tuber (?)
Nervosia; Consequence of Hemorhagic Shock; Consequence of Acute cholecystitis.
Date of Operation 7/30/1978. Date of Death: 8/16/78. 1:30 P.M.; age 90.
Father Charles Offutt; Mother's Maiden Name: Annie Renehan. SS#578-01-5218.
Dr. Joseph P. Caruso. Burial 8/19/78. Mt. Olivet Cemetary, Washington, D. C.
(Later moved to Resurrection Cemetary, Clinton, MD). Robert E. Wilhelm
Funeral Home 4308 Suitland Road, Suitland, MD.
Birth Certificate: Date of Birth: 9th March, 1888. Full Name of Father:
Chas E. Offutt; Father's Birthplace: Georgetown, D. C.; Father's Occupation:
Clerk; Full Name of Mother: Annie Offutt; Mother's Maiden Name: Annie
Renehan; Mother's Birthplace, Washington, D. C.; Sex: Male; Color: White;
Placeof Birth: No. 1427 W. Stareet, N. W.; Number of children mother has
given birth to: 4. Signature of Midwife: Mres. Millie Wilson No. 1751 Ceder
Street, N. W.