Charles Clarke

1941 - 2023

Charles Lee Clarke



Charles Lee "Chuck" Clarke passed away peacefully surrounded by his family on December 18, 2022. He was born in Danville, VA on March 4, 1941 to Lee and Marion Clarke.

Chuck grew up in Danville, VA and Goldsboro, NC, the eldest son of three siblings. He was a well-rounded, all-American boy: good at football and baseball, polite with his elders, and well-liked at school. He married his lifelong sweetheart, Karen Lee Spangler, in 1963, and a few years later he graduated from UNC Chapel Hill School of Medicine. Chuck joined the Air Force and spent three years working as a doctor on Naha Air Base in Okinawa, Japan during the Vietnam War. It was after this that he and his family came to New Mexico so he could complete a residency in OB-GYN at UNM.

Chuck and Karen immediately fell in love with the mountains, open vistas, and rich culture of New Mexico. They moved to Las Vegas, New Mexico in 1974 and raised twin daughters on a rustic 20-acre ranchito. Chuck was a gifted physician. As a small-town doctor, he was known for his compassion and kindness, the time he spent with his patients, and his skill as a diagnostician and surgeon. He knew that medicine was an art as much as a science and he wrote two books to this effect. Chuck and Karen moved to Albuquerque after he retired, and finally settled in Corrales.

Chuck was also a skilled writer, poet, and painter, passions he pursued throughout his life. He loved prose poetry and Haiku, filling notebooks with rich with images of nature, many unique to the New Mexico landscape. He painted still lifes and landscapes and created sketches and drawings, a joy he continued to pursue even as his eyesight failed him in recent years.

Chuck was a loving and present husband, father, grandfather, and friend. He is survived by his daughters Gray Clarke and Robin Clarke (son-in-law Joseph Core), granddaughter Tasnim Clarke, and grandsons Benjamin Leyba and Kade Core. He is also survived by his siblings Stuart Clarke, Babs Clarke Harris, and Flud Van Giffen, his soul brother and high school exchange student from Holland. A small family memorial is being planned for mid Spring.