Donna Clarke Brown

Donna Peterson Clarke Brown

1941 ~ 2025

Donna Peterson Clarke Brown, 84, passed away peacefully on Friday, November 14, 2025, in Pocatello, ID. "I am large; I contain multitudes," wrote the poet Walt Whitman, reflecting on the complexity and contradictions bound up in a single human life. Donna's life – from ranch girl, awkward teenage beauty, lifelong student, teacher, missionary, maker, builder, wife, mother, grandmother – was a collage of contradictions, abundant capabilities, and perseverance through life's challenges.

Born on June 4, 1941, in Ogden, Utah, to Louis Eldon Peterson and Dorothy Mayme Crumroy, Donna was the eldest of three children. She was raised primarily on the family ranches in Roy, Utah, and Starr Valley, Nevada, an upbringing that shaped her life-long pride in her Mormon pioneer heritage, her ancestors from Wales, Denmark, and Germany, and the family cattle enterprise, Peterson Bros. Herefords-a source of countless stories about the rugged, often isolated and work-worn life of the American West..

When not cooking and cleaning for the ranch hands or doing other ranch-house chores, Donna lived with her mother and siblings at the "house in town" in Elko, NV. There she began the skills-building and creative interests that would define the rest of her life. From her grandmother Peterson, she learned to sew, crochet, garden, can fruits and vegetables, make butter, and do family genealogy. A bright child, school came easily for Donna, and she was precocious in drawing, painting, and penmanship. In the 2nd grade, she became enchanted with the beautiful violin on display at school, but had to wait until the next time the family lived in town to begin lessons. She went on to play the violin in her school orchestra through high school and college, with the violin later becoming a significant feature of her life's pursuits.

She graduated from Elko High School in 1959 near the top of her class, and earned her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Brigham Young University in 1963. She married Merlyn John Clarke that same year, whom she had met one summer night while "dragging Main Street" in Elko, Nevada. Together they raised five children: Kimberly, Heather, Nathan, Adam, and Seth. Their journey took them from Utah to Pennsylvania, from State College to Marshall's Creek, from Brown Street in Stroudsburg to the hilltop home they built on Turkey Hill.

While her first career was as a 5th-grade teacher, Donna was always inclined to entrepreneurial pursuits, a trait she inherited from her business-minded father. A perfectionist with an artist's eye for detail and a head for ideas, it seemed whatever Donna put her mind to, the results were impressively professional. Thus began a string of cottage-industry businesses that both tapped Donna's creative energy and supplemented the family income. She made clever candles for gift shops, decorated elaborate wedding cakes, took on complex sewing projects, and – greatly valuing things "made from scratch" – was an enthusiastic dealer for Bosch and Magic Mill home food-processing equipment. Throughout her life, Donna tackled large, creative projects, such as preparing a 12-foot painted mural for her class, writing scripts and designing costumes for church youth-group roadshows, and marshalling her children into assembly lines to make her beautiful sugar Easter eggs to be sold in various fund-raisers for the church, and for her children's extra-curriculars.

A natural teacher and gifted musician, Donna touched countless lives through her dedication to education and the arts. She taught elementary school in Utah and Pennsylvania, But it was in 1980, after attending a Suzuki workshop in Washington, DC, that Donna found her true calling. She became, in her own words, "ecstatic about the possibilities." Through training at institutes from Ithaca to Stevens Point, from Denver to Logan, she dedicated her life to this method of teaching music to the very young. She founded the Stroudsburg Suzuki Music School in 1980, nurturing it from three students to over forty, and many hundreds over the course of her career. She organized Stroudsburg's first community youth orchestra in 1987 and successfully advocated for strings education and orchestra programs in local public schools – a legacy that has grown and continues as a thriving pillar of arts education in area schools to this day.

Even as she furthered her music education with a degree from Moravian College, Donna continued teaching, serving as an adjunct professor and maintaining her private studio for over 24 years. Her violin studio became a sanctuary where children discovered not just music, but confidence, discipline, and joy. Her students remember her not just for the technical skills she imparted, but for the life lessons and enduring love of music she awakened in their hearts.

After her divorce in 1999, Donna returned to Utah with characteristic courage, building a new life and finding unexpected happiness. She married Robert Lynn Brown on July 21, 2001, whom she described as a gentle, kind, and loving husband. After being sealed in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple in Utah in November 2004, they embarked on adventures that included serving an LDS mission in Bilbao, Spain (2004-2006), where she made lasting friendships and touched lives through service.

Donna's faith anchored every aspect of her life. She served in virtually every church calling available to women-from Primary teacher to Relief Society counselor, from chorister to stakeRelief Society work leader. Her dedication to genealogy began as a young girl copying her grandmother's pedigree charts and continued throughout her life. Even in her later years, she found great joy in genealogical research for her family tree, completing hundreds of family records for the church database so that temple work could be completed for her ancestors.

The travels of her later years with Robert brought her joy-cruises to Mexico and Hawaii, visits to the Holy Land, trips to Portugal, Costa Rica, and Puerto Vallarta. But her greatest happiness came from family gatherings, teaching violin to seven great-grandchildren, and maintaining connections with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren scattered across the country and overseas.

Donna faced life's challenges with grace, including falls that left her with lasting injuries but never dimmed her spirit. She leaves behind a remarkable legacy: students who became professional musicians and teachers, countless lives enriched through her church service, and a family who carries forward her love of learning, music, and faith. Her organizational prowess was matched only by her creative spirit. Her life embodied the truth that one person's passion and dedication can transform communities and touch generations.

Donna was preceded in death by her parents, her younger sister Janet, and her beloved second husband, Robert Lynn Brown, who passed away in 2018. She is survived by her brother Jay Peterson and her five children: Kimberly (Paul) Carlile of Belmont, MA; Heather (Victor Gunter) Clarke of Pocatello, ID; Nathan (Loren Herrera-Hernandez) Clarke of Rochester, MN; Adam Clarke of London, England; and Seth (Sharon) Clarke of Keene, NH. The large posterity of Clarke and Brown grandchildren and great-grandchildren were the melody of her life.

Funeral services for Donna will be held on Saturday November 29, 2025 at 11:30 am at Warenski Funeral Home Chapel, located at 1776 North 900 East American Fork, Utah. Family and friends are invited to attend a visitation on Saturday morning from 10:00-11:00 am prior to service. Interment will be at the Redwood Memorial Estates Cemetery in West Jordan located at, 6500 South Redwood Road, West Jordan, Utah. The burial will take place at 2:00 pm. All are welcome.