Thomas Douglas Clark

1936 - 2025

Nampa - Thomas Douglas Clark entered into his eternal home on May 30th, 2025, at the age of 88. He passed away peacefully at home with family members by his side after an unexpected and short illness. He was born on October 27, 1936, in Paul Idaho to Thomas Glen and Bertha Jean Clark. Thomas, called Doug by all those in Paul, was the youngest of 2 children and would help on the family's farm homestead. Once when Doug was a small child, he became very ill with an appendicitis and almost died but because penicillin was just beginning to be used, he survived only to fall out of the family vehicle on the way home from the hospital and run over by the milk truck. Thankfully, he was unhurt and walked away!

At the age of 18, he enlisted in the United States Air Force and was an aircraft mechanic. This position gave him the passion for flying and after leaving the Air Force, he then got his pilot's license. Later, he was able to purchase a small Cessna, and the family traveled back and forth from Paul to Arkansas often.

Once, while stationed at Hill Air Force Base in Ogden, he and a friend decided to take a motorcycle trip in the middle of winter and travel home to Paul. With the cold of winter and having engine trouble, the two barely made it home half frozen and covered in oil!

After leaving the service, he traveled to San Jose, where he met the love of his life, LaVerne Hughes, at the Ann Darling Bowling Alley. They were married on January 25, 1964. Tom, LaVerne and their children, Sandra, Darryl and Janice, resided in San Jose.

In 1968, LaVerne had gone to the grocery store and witnessed an incident there. She came back to tell Tom that she wanted to leave California. At the time, Tom worked for the International Paper Company, but had recently been offered a position at Boise Cascade Container Division in Nampa, Idaho. LaVerne told him that he was taking that job in Idaho! The family left their home in San Jose and purchased land in south Nampa. Tom started to build the family dream home LaVerne wanted from the ground up, brick by brick. It was often the job of the kids to help Dad brick the house after coming home from school, and what a treasured memory that is!

Later, they welcomed their 4th child, Thomas Daniel Clark, into the family.

Tom retired from Boise Cascade in 1995 as the maintenance engineer after 25+ years of service. LaVerne also retired shortly thereafter. Together, they bought a 5th wheel and began their traveling years, going on camping trips and spending winters in Arizona with family members and friends. They had such a blast enjoying life.

Tom and LaVerne are members of Lakeview Bible Church in Nampa and they have many special friends there who he spoke fondly of often. Tom became known as "The Candy Man". What started out as a few kids he would give candy too, quickly turned into several! He always made sure he had baggies full of smarties to hand out to all the kids on Sunday morning!

Tom & LaVerne shared 61 beautiful years and after retirement, living together in the same house that he built until his death. You would always find them together- they became inseparable. They leaned on each other, took care of each other and were incredibly happy!

Tom leaves behind his loving wife LaVerne, his 2 daughters Sandra Schrock (Dale), from Nampa Id, Janice Daniels (Jeff) from Pasco, WA and son Dan Clark, Elko, Nevada, 8 grandchildren, 13 great grandchildren, nephews Rick Krause (Shauna), Craig Krause and Jeanne Krause all from Paul Idaho. He was preceded in death by his parents Thomas Glen and Bertha Jean Clark, his sister Shirley Jean Krause and brother-in-law Reuben Krause and son Darryl Alan Burkhead.

The family would like to thank the staff at St. Alphonsus Hospital in Boise and Enhabit Hospice staff in Nampa for their care of Tom and his family as well as Lakeview Bible Church for all their support, prayers, and meals for the family.

A celebration of life will be held at Lakeview Bible Church in Nampa at 1:00 pm on Thursday June 5th, 2025 with visitation between 11:00-12:00. A special thank you to Nampa Funeral Yraguen Chapel for handling all the arrangements. Burial will follow at Kohler Lawn Cemetery in Nampa with military honors. The pallbearers will be his son, Dan Clark, son-in-law, Dale Schrock, and grandchildren, Jason Monroe, Joe Daniels, Troy Monroe and Kyle Daniels. Honorary Pallbearers will be his son-in-law, Jeff Daniels and his nephew, Rick Krause.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Lakeview Bible Church in honor of Tom. An online guest book can be signed at www.nampafuneralhome.com