Well if you have read this far, it's been quite a ride hasn't it, since our Boston Terrier and his pal set out for Mastic in search of the Clairedale Story?

Somewhere along the way he lost his pal and he looks a little uncertain about the driving abilities of the flapper that is now in the seat. I think he wants to drive further but looks like he lost his goggles too. If we have learned anything through these pages, we should all know by now he would not look so tentative if Miss Claire was behind the wheel. To tell the truth I don't know if she ever did drive a car, but I'm assuming she did just by the facts I do know about her eg. She was the only woman trotter driver to race against the guys at the Mineola Fairgrounds around 1911 or so. The lady could handle a horse, so a car would of been childs play for her. She also sailed a mean boat in the races held from Bellport to Bayshore along the South Shore in the early 1900's

But perhaps her true talent in life was the way she related to and handled dogs devoting most of her life to that endeavor. But all things must pass and so must this little unofficial study of Clairedale and Claire Antoinette Knapp Penney Dixon .... who as I have stated on many occasions throughout these web pages I only knew from playing as a child in her abandoned mansion in the mid 1950's

In the 1940's there were many changes in Claire's life both personal and with her kennel...though I don't think you can separate the two. Her 16 year marriage to Willis Penney ended in 1941. Several years later she re married to a longtime Knapp family acquaintance Thomas Dixon Jr. The Dixons and Knapps go back to the early 1900's.Tom spent some time in the summer of 1911 at the Knapp home in Bellport as their guest sailing in the Lady Claire with Dodi. In WWI he was stationed at the unofficial Knapp & US Navy Airplane Base located on Clair's estate in Mastic. According to what one of Claires granddaughters told me told me that marriage was very short lived...which gives credence to the old saying You don't really know someone till you marry them. They separated about 1947 and Tom went out west where he died in 1953. Claire kept the Dixon name however which leads me to believe she had other things in mind for the balance of her life rather than another husband. Loose translation Gave It A Good Try.... Time To Move On ....and there is still work to do with the dogs..

Claire was forced to make some hard decisions in the 1940's about her kennel too. Kidney problems were severe with the Sealyham's and although she stayed with the breed she had to branch out into West Highland Terriers. Well when you got it ....you got it and by now the lady had nothing to prove to anyone. She just kept on winning and setting standards. True she didn't win the way she did in the thirties, but to be fair she was battling health problems.

Her eldest daughter Margaret was running her own kennel Pennyworth at the Clairedale location in Hampton Bays and in the 1950's they entered some dogs jointly in shows. Like Alfonco the poodle who in the mid 50's was still putting Clairedale on the map.... Speaking Of Maps you can tour Clairedale by clicking the link Whatever they did they did very well. I have at least 75 more press clippings about Mrs. Claire Penney or Mrs. Claire Dixon and Clairedale through the 40's and 50's

One of the late '50's shows I have found with a Clairedale entry occurred in Greenlawn, L.I. in September of 1958. The terrier Sandbrook Sandpiper took a 4th place with Sheila Lyster handling. I know from her obit that Claire was ill for a long time in her last year of life but I would hope she was able to attend this show and perhaps re visit her home there that she shared with her Mother Sylvia from 1912-1916. Her last win was with She's A Honey in early October of 1959.

On October 25, 1959, two days after her 70th birthday Claire Knapp Dixon passed away. She is buried next to her brother J.F. Knapp aka"Dodi" in the Southampton LI plot where she laid him down seven years earlier. Dodi died on Oct 23, 1952. Oct 23rd by the way was her birthday. Two years later her daughters Margaret and Antoinette sold the Clairedale estate in Red Cedar Point but if you click the link in the Clairedale site map marked Hampton Bays you will see she left her mark there.

The AKC Gazette gave Claire a full page obituary which when I discovered it in their NYC Library and showed it to their librarian prompted her to exclaim. "Oh My.... that is highly unprecedented for the Gazette .... She must of been some one extraordinary" to which I replied something like 'Yeah I think she was'.....You can read her AKC obit by clicking here

Postscript: It is a well documented fact in the annals of Dogdom that Claire's daughter Margaret Penney Newcombe carried on extremely well for her under the Pennyworth banner winning Westminster in 1964. Margaret is still an active AKC judge along with her daughter, Claire Newcombe. Lesser known is the fact that Margaret's sister, Antoinette Vojvoda ressurected for a time a scaled back Clairedale Kennel in the late '60's with an outstanding Airedale Terrier named Ch. Tayln's River Rouge. Both the dog and Anne were pictured in a feature article in the 1969 NY Times when River Rouge was winning big. Because I'm respecting Anne's privacy wishes that she conveyed to me through her daughter, I am not showing it. But I just think Claire would want you to know both her daughters were dog ladies.