Ms. Isanhour was active in volunteer work at the Smyrna Public Library, where for several years, she was editor of The Link, the quarterly newsletter of the Friends of the Smyrna Library. This blog is the digital successor to the printed newsletter she started.
A certified genealogist, she taught a course in genealogy at the Smyrna Library, donating the class fee to the library, and was instrumental in the library's accumulating a large genealogy reference section. In recognition of her contributions the Friends of the Smyrna Library recommended to the Smyrna City Council that they name the genealogy reference room for her; the Mayor of the City of Smyrna issued a proclamation so naming the department, and a bronze plaque was placed there, designating it the "Clare Isanhour Room." The Smyrna City Council later issued a second proclamation commending her general good works toward the library and the city of Smyrna, particularly her assistance in finding some of the descendants of those who had lived in Smyrna’s Taylor-Brawner house, as it was being renovated. A tree was planted there in her name.
Ms. Isanhour wrote, compiled, or assisted in research for numerous books on family history and local history in metro Atlanta and elsewhere, and was working on a final family history book—which her friends plan to finish from her notes—at the time of her death. She became interested in genealogy when, in researching her family so she could join the DAR at her mother’s insistence, she learned that she was a distant cousin of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
