Clarence E. Hunter was born April 13, 1869, in Indiana, and entered the ministry in 1892 at about the age of 23. Clarence was a singer, and D. S. Warner evidently liked his voice enough that he invited Clarence to join him on evangelistic tours. He accepted the invitation. He met Nora Siens at a camp meeting in Grand Junction, Michigan, and they were married in the fall of 1896, the year following D. S. Warner’s death.
Nora, who was born August 16, 1873, was also a minister and the two became very active in the gospel work. They traveled in evangelistic work as well as pastored congregations in Kansas, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and California, establishing new congregations in many places.
Clarence was also a gifted composer of music. He wrote the music for several songwriters, including D. S. Warner, B. E. Warren, C. E. Orr, W. G. Schell, Clara M. Brooks, and C. W. Naylor. Some of his compositions appeared as early as 1897 in the songbook, Songs of the Evening Light. He assisted B. E. Warren, D. O. Teasley, and A. L. Byers in compiling Salvation Echoes, published by the Gospel Trumpet Company in 1900. More than 30 of his music compositions appeared in that volume. He also assisted the three last mentioned songwriters together with C. W. Naylor and Clara McAlister (later Brooks) in the composing and compiling of Truth in Song, published in 1907.
His wife, Nora, wrote the words to #148 in Songs of the Evening Light, 1897, “Little Pilgrims;” also #217 in that same songbook, “Follow Jesus.”
Clarence and Nora Hunter endured the grief of losing their one-year-old twin boys in the summer of 1903. In the September 3, 1903 issue of The Gospel Trumpet they wrote, “While we miss our darlings, yet from our hearts we can say, ‘The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.'”
Clarence passed away February 5, 1945, at the age of 76. Nora died January 27, 1951, at the age of 77. They are buried at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.