Darrel Clark

Darrel Clark July20, 1925 – August 15, 2013 Darrel was born to Tekla and Adolph Clark in Clear Lake, Wisconsin. He grew up with his brother, Wayne, on the family dairy farm, graduating high school in 1943. He joined the USNR, training in the Navy Air Corps, then as a deck officer. He attended Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota, Pre-Midshipman, Mid-shipman and destroyer training schools at Princeton and Columbia Universities and Norfolk, Virginia before duty on the USS Hyman in the Pacific in 1945. Following WWII, he attended the University of Wisconsin and Chicago College of Osteopathy, graduating in 1951, before serving as a communications officer on the USS Waldron. While on this Goodwill Tour to Europe he met Katherine Davis, who was in the US Foreign Service in Hamburg, Germany. They married March 26, 1953, in Conroe, Texas during his internship. In 1954, he started practice in Dove Creek, Colorado, later moving to Grand Junction, practicing for 38 years and raising a family. He was active in the American Lutheran Church, the Grand Junction Rotary Club - president in 1983-1984, the American Osteopathic Association, and the Colorado Society of Osteopathic Medicine. He enjoyed camping, traveling and jeeping, until paralyzed by Guillian-Barre syndrome in 1980. In 1992, the couple retired to Ridgway, where they were founding members of the United Church of the San Juans. He leaves his wife of 60 years, Katsy, and daughters, Marti Weber of SLC, Utah (Rich, Ashley and Justin); Janis Berino of Frisco, Colorado (Jeff, Jay and Jenya); Karla Clark of Nashville, Tennessee, and son, Chris of Grand Junction, Colorado. Burial will be at Dallas Park Cemetery near Ridgway. A memorial service will be held at the American Lutheran Church in Grand Junction Wednesday, August 21, at 11:00 a.m. Funeral services by Callahan-Edfast. Charitable donations may be made to Hope West Hospice or American Lutheran Church.