Janet MacLellan Clark

1926 - 2018

Janet MacLellan Clark

Naples, FL

Janet MacLellan Clark passed away peacefully with her family by her side on Saturday November 24, 2018. She was a resident of the Vi/Bentley retirement community in Naples, Florida.

She is survived by three children: sons David MacLellan Clark and wife Roselle, Andrew Shipley Clark and wife Suzanne; and daughter Catherine Clark. She is survived by 6 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild: James Edward Clark, Laura Anita Clark, Sarah Emily Morrison, Megan Elizabeth Clark, Jason Andrew Clark, Abigail Shipley Clark, and great grandson Arlo Mansfield Morrison. She was predeceased by her husband Edward Mansfield Clark, her sister, Priscilla MacLellan Foster; her sister Sally MacLellan Councill, and her son, Scott Fitzgerald Clark.

The family has designated the Edward M. Clark Dictionary Fund for memorial contributions. Donations can be mailed to the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts at 333 Bridge St, Springfield, MA 01103, attention Edward M. Clark Dictionary Fund; or online at http://communityfoundation.org/donatenow/. On the web form, select the 'Another Named Fund' box and then from the drop-down box choose the 'Edward M. Clark Dictionary Fund' fund.

Janet was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1926, the youngest of three daughters of Lee Leslie MacLellan and Irma Baker MacLellan. She attended schools in Edina (Minneapolis) MN and Bethlehem, PA, and graduated from Evanston Township High School, Evanston IL in 1944. She went on to earn a BA in 1948 from Swarthmore College in Swarthmore PA, where she met her future husband, Edward Mansfield Clark. They were married Sept. 4, 1948 in the First Presbyterian Church of Bethlehem, PA. In 1949, they moved to Longmeadow, Mass.

While living in Longmeadow, she was active in the First Church of Christ Congregational, serving variously as chairman of the board of Deaconesses, the Education Committee, and the Nominating Committee. She also served as a board member of the Camp Norwich Branch of the YWCA, the Springfield Historical Museum, the American Field Service, and the Junior League of Springfield, MA.

She enjoyed gardening, and was a member of the

Longmeadow Garden Club for many years. In 1977, she added a greenhouse to her home in Longmeadow where she enjoyed growing plants year round. A charter member of the Field Club, a tennis club in Longmeadow, MA, she was also involved in the AFS International student exchange program. She and her husband Ed hosted an AFS exchange student from the Netherlands, Martien Lankester, for a year, and kept in touch with him and his family for over 30 years.

After moving to Florida, she and her husband lived at the Naples Bath & Tennis Club, and enjoyed playing tennis there for many years. They moved to the Vineyards in Naples in 1995 and then to Bentley Village in Naples in December, 1999.

She loved to read, knit, sew, make quilts, cross stitch, needlepoint, and crewel embroidery. She made quilts for each of her grandchildren when they were born. A bridge lover, she also played tennis for over 40 years. She loved dogs, especially Labrador Retrievers. She enjoyed oil

painting and took several classes in Springfield, MA as well as in Florida.

She was a member of the Naples Garden Club, serving on their Board of Directors in several capacities. She often entered their annual Garden shows and won awards for the flowers and plants she grew. She had been a volunteer and member at the Conservancy of Florida for many years. She loved her computer and enjoyed 'Googling', playing

solitaire games, emailing friends and various

political groups, keeping family records, and making

personalized cards for friends and family using photographs she took. While at Bentley Village, she was active in the

Resident Council, serving as chairman of the Housekeeping

committee, the Grounds/ Landscaping Committee, and as her building's representative to the Resident Council. She enjoyed her porch gardens and planted and maintained the flowers in the urns at the buildings where she lived.

She and her husband enjoyed travelling for many years – to Switzerland, Scotland, England, Holland (where they visited their AFS son and his family), Jamaica, the Virgin Islands, France, Austria, Costa Rica, and Brazil. In 2002, she traveled to Cuba with a group studying Ernest Hemingway through Florida Gulf Coast University. She and her husband took many trips with the Elderhostel program, and several trips 'river boating' on the paddlewheel boats in this country and on barges in France.