Janna Crawford Clarke

1950 - 2017

Janna Clarke FREDERICKSBURG -- Janna Crawford Clarke, formerly a long-time Keller resident, passed away on September 30, 2017, after a hard-fought, year-long battle with cancer. CELEBRATION OF LIFE: 2 p.m. Monday, Oct. 9th at St. Luke's Methodist Church, 3200 Denton Hwy., Fort Worth. Memorial donations in Janna's name may be made to Hill Country Memorial Hospital Foundation, P.O. Box 1339, Fredericksburg, TX 78624. Janna was born Nov. 8, 1950, in Bonham, to Joe and Betty James Crawford. She was raised in Fort Worth and graduated from Haltom High School. Her bachelor degree in English and Government was earned from the University of Texas at Arlington. She then went on to received her law degree from Texas Tech School of Law in 1984. Janna devoted her entire life to the law first as a police officer and paralegal and then as a lawyer. She opened the DFW International Airport as a member of its initial police force. She then worked undercover as a narcotics agent with the Beaumont Police Department before becoming a paralegal in Fort Worth. It was there that Janna decided to go to law school and it was during that time that she met her husband, Matt. They had a long distance relationship as Janna went to law school in Lubbock and began private practice in Fort Worth until they married in 1988. Important to Janna were the people she practiced law. To that end, she practiced with Broude, Smith, Jennings, McGlinchey & Fitzgerald and its predecessor firms for over 30 years. She cherished the relationships that she built within the firm as well as all within the legal community in Tarrant County. Though she started practicing law later than most, Janna became a bastion of the Fort Worth/Tarrant County legal community. In 2005, she was elected president of the Tarrant County Bar Association after having chaired and led numerous Bar committees, sections and efforts, including the Tarrant County Women Attorneys Section. She was a Charter Fellow of the Tarrant County Bar Foundation and served as a director from 2011-16. She also served on the State Bar of Texas' Board of Directors, The Texas Bar Foundation and in the House of Delegates for the American Bar Association. Principally for her work chairing the State Bar of Texas' Local Bar Services Committee over many years, Janna received the prestigious 2017 State Bar of Texas President's Award. In addition to the law, Janna served two years on the Keller City Council as Mayor Pro Tem and over 20 years with the Greater Keller Women's Club Foundation. In her spare time, you could find Janna with a good book. She was an avid reader and would read just about anything anywhere. She also enjoyed friends, good food and wine and took frequent trips to Italy, the California wine country and her happy places, Mendocino and Santa Fe. She is preceded in death by her brother, Tim Crawford. SURVIVORS: Janna is survived by her husband, Matt; her parents, Joe and Betty Crawford; sister, Sondi Mateja and her husband Bill; nieces, McCauley and Kirby; mother-in-law, Peggy Clarke; brother-in-law, Mark Clarke, and his wife, Lisa and their children, Morgan, Robert and Mark; and brother-in-law, Tim Clarke and his wife, Lettie.