Mary Agnes Clark was born in Portland, Oregon, on May 30, 1937 to Hazen and Agnes Johnson. She was the youngest of three daughters. The oldest, Billie, was 16 years her senior and born on the same day. The Johnsons adopted Joan in 1936 and one year later, Mary was born. After graduating from Grant High School in 1955 she attended Willamette University for a year. She worked as a clerk-typist at the main branch of the 1st National Bank in Portland, where she was featured in an Oregonian newspaper “Beauty on the Job” article in November 1956.
She married Jerry Clark, whose family had been friends of the Johnsons for many years, on March 16, 1957. Jerry, then a senior at Oregon State University went on to serve in the U.S. Air Force and Oregon Air National Guard. The Clarks lived in Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma and Germany before returning to Portland in 1967. Along the way they had three children: Lori, Dale, and Karen. Karen was born with Spina bifida and was hospitalized in Oklahoma City for four months after she was born. This led Mary on a crusade to improve the quality of life for the disabled. One time she took the manager of a Lloyd Center store on a tour of his restroom and challenged him to use it in a wheelchair.
Mary was widowed on Sept. 22, 1978. Jerry, then a pilot for Western Airline and a lieutenant colonel in the Oregon Air National Guard, was killed when the Voodoo F-101 fighter interceptor jet he was co-piloting crashed after taking off from the Buckley, Colorado, Air National Guard base. He and the pilot, who also died, were en route to a William Tell Air Show competition when the crash occurred.
After Jerry’s death Mary enrolled at Mt. Hood Community College where she earned an AA degree as an occupational therapy assistant. She worked for many years at Eagle Creek Elementary School, and also volunteered at Providence Child Care Center.
In 2006 she sold her Parkrose Argay home and moved to Parkrose Chateau Gracious Retirement Living. Despite having severe osteoarthritis, Mary loved arts and crafts, especially crocheting, latch-hook, knitting and mosaics. A degenerative spine condition also resulted in several surgeries over the years that left her wheelchair bound and in constant pain. But that did not stop her, she continued with her artwork and attending family and social functions, as well as shopping outings with her many friends via the TriMet LIFT.
Mary generously donated to various causes including the Rask Family Memorial Fund, ALS Association, Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, and many more. She also was a prolific blood donor to the American Red Cross blood bank.
Mary was preceded in death by her parents; sister, Billie Wiper; husband, Jerry; and daughter, Karen.
She is survived by her children Lori (Mike) Gutwig, and Dale (Lori) Clark; five grandchildren, Leslie, Megan, Jared, Matthew and Analea; five great-grandchildren, Isla, Maeve, Beulah, Finnegan and Ronan; and sister, Joan.
Internment was at Willamette National Cemetery.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, July 30, at Advantage Funeral & Cremation Services, 1515 N.E. 106th Ave, Portland.
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