JOSEPH S. CLARK

May 12, 2016

Joseph Stanley Clark passed away Thursday, May 12, 2016. Son of Paul David Clark and Esther Inman Clark, he was born in Quincy, Florida on September 21, 1927. He married the former Deborah Fennell of Tampa, Florida on August 16, 1956 and they were together nearly 60 years.

He grew up in Chattahoochee, Florida where he attended public schools through the eleventh grade. He was graduated from the Bolles School, Jacksonville, in June 1945. Joe attended Auburn University briefly before serving in the U.S. Army of Occupation in Japan. After discharge, he entered Florida State University, where he was a member of Pi Kappa Alpha and graduated in June 1950. Joe spent the majority of his business career in the insurance business in Tallahassee, Mobile, and Palm Beach. He earned the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designation in 1964 and retired in October of 1989.

After retirement, Joe and his family enjoyed growing and selling Christmas trees from their property in the Recovery Community of Decatur County, Georgia. After his second retirement from that business, he continued to enjoy the maintenance and propagation of pine trees for timber on the farm. He enjoyed viewing and photographing the wildlife there and improving their habitat by controlled burning and selective harvesting.

After enhancing his knowledge of computer science, Joe received an Associate of Applied Science from Bainbridge College in 1993. He enjoyed using his computer to maintain farm and business records and to accumulate and compile genealogy data for his and Deborah’s families.

Joe was a member of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Tallahassee. Previously he and Deborah were members of St. John’s, Bainbridge, where he served as a Lay Minister and greeter for several years. He was previously Senior Warden for Holy Comforter Episcopal Church in Tallahassee. During his years at St. John’s, Bainbridge (1994-2011), Joe made the communion wine used in their services. For several years, members of the church – and many other family friends – would come to the Clark farm to participate in the annual Grape Stomp, to pick grapes and stomp them to produce the juice Joe used to make the altar wine.

Joe is survived by a sister, Emma Susan Slawson of Gainesville, Florida; his wife, Deborah; five children, Joseph Stanley Clark Jr. and wife Nancy Kellett, Paul David Clark II and wife Jennifer, Sarah Elisabeth Clark Puckett, Mary Margaret Clark Nyren and husband Gerald, and Susannah Higgins Clark Miller and husband Ed; eleven grandchildren, including Lindsay Clark Tan and husband Charles, Laura Beth Clark, Liam Alexander Clark, Caitrin Una Clark, Samantha Erin Puckett, Kimberly Michelle Puckett, Gerald Paul Nyren, Jr., John Fennell Nyren, Molly Quinn Nyren, Sarah Elisabeth Nyren, and Benjamin Edward Miller; and one great-grandson, James Clark Tan. He was proud of them all and justifiably so.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, May 27, 2016 among the pines at the family farm in Recovery, Georgia, with a reception immediately following. Please contact a family member for details and directions. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made through a check made out to St. John’s Episcopal Church, 211 N. Monroe St., Tallahassee, 32301, with the note, “Joe Clark Memorial – Outreach Ministries” on the memo line.