Jean Clark

December 9, 1917 - September 2, 2022
In loving memory ~
Sadly, on Friday September 2, 2022, Jean Clark passed away at the age of 104. Jean was born to Clarence and Verna Spencer on December 9, 1917 at Fleet, Alberta. She was predeceased by her husband Arthur in 1998 and her eldest daughter Carolyn (Ron) in 2012. She is survived by two daughters, Gayle (Mac) and Kay (Bob), seven grandchildren, Geri, Catherine, Kerry, Erin, Doug, Cassie and Dave and four great grandchildren, Christian, Zachary, Cameron and Morgan.
Jean attended school at Fleet, after which she went to Calgary to attend Normal School where she studied for and received her teacher's certificate.
Her first teaching position was a one room school at Battle Lake, where she taught grades one to nine. The next year, she moved to another one room school at Fisherton and it was while she was there that she met a young man named Arthur Clark, Arthur and Jean were married in the Easter Holidays in 1939. Jean finished her year at Fisherton before moving to her new home on Arthur's farm near Mulhurst. Arthur would drive over each weekend to pick her up in their Model A Ford and when the children heard the car coming, Jean said that they would burst into the song "Old MacDonald Had a Ford....with a rattle, rattle here and a rattle there!"
Next school year she was able to teach at Bonnie Glen and then, Spring Hill, both of which were closer to home. She started at the new, much larger school of Pipestone where she taught grade Five for many years until she retired. Jean and Arthur raised their three daughters on the farm.
Jean was an active member of the Mulhurst United Church and she loved singing in the choir. After retirement, she travelled to Europe and the UK and made a trip to Australia for the birth of her granddaughter there. In 1996 she and Arthur purchased a place in Ladysmith BC on Vancouver Island where her daughters resided. She moved there permanently after Arthur died in 1998. She spent good times with family and with her friends in the Ladysmith United Church, where she again sang in the choir for many years. She moved into the Chemainus Care Centre at 100 years of age where she was treated with great caring and kindness until the time of her passing. Jean loved working with the English language. She wrote poetry and short stories. For many years, she wrote the weekly column of Mulhurst news for the Wetaskiwin Times. She was an avid reader and gardener. Her life spanned the Spanish Flu Epidemic up to and through the Covid Pandemic, with all the many changes in between those times. She will be sorely missed.
The family would like to thank, especially the staff at the Chemainus Health Care Centre who took such good care of Jean in her last years.
She will be interred at Cedar Memorial Gardens alongside her husband and daughter.
There, a family service will be held on Friday, September 16th at noon. This will be followed by a short service in the Ladysmith United Church, followed by a visit in the adjoining hall with tea, coffee and goodies for friends and family.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the charity of your choice.