Frances Janet West Clark

Frances Janet West Clark was born January 20, 1932, north of Berryville, Arkansas at the home of her parents, Digby Clarke and Edith (McMasters) West. She passed away Sunday, June 22, 2014 at Tablerock Healthcare, Kimberling City, Missouri as a result of complications from Alzheimer's. Janet graduated from Berryville High School in 1949. She attended colleges in Virginia and Illinois, receiving a BA degree from the University of Arkansas in 1954 with a major in mathematics and minor in secondary education. She was a member of the Chi Omega sorority. After graduation, she moved to Dallas, Texas and worked as an engineer's assistant before marrying George Wayne Clark on February 20, 1955. After raising their two daughters, Janet taught mathematics for a short time at Harrison (Arkansas) Jr. High School and later at North Arkansas Community College. She served on the Harrison School Board and always had a strong interest in public education. Janet was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Eureka Springs and was very active in Presbyterian Churches in North Little Rock, Russellville, Harrison, and Berryville, Arkansas. She served in the church as a teacher, ordained elder, and clerk of Session. She derived much joy from the churches' women's organizations, serving as local moderator in Russellville, Harrison, and Berryville and, in the early 1980s, was a moderator of Presbyterian Women in the Arkansas Presbytery. She was commissioned by the Presbytery of Arkansas to the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church (USA), was on numerous committees of Presbytery and Synod, and become moderator of the Presbytery of Arkansas in 1994. Janet is survived by Wayne, her husband of 59 years; their daughter, Frances Gooden and husband Dave Gooden of Fordland, Missouri and daughter, George Anna Clark of Morelos, Mexico; two grandchildren, Louis Lathrop of Springfield, Missouri and Jana Lathrop of Wamego, Kansas; three great-grandchildren, Christopher and Gabriel McCall and Chandler Lathrop; and a host of other friends and loved ones. She was preceded in death by both her parents, Digby Clarke and Edith West and her sister, Diane Bayley. Memorial service will be 11 a.m. Wednesday, June 25, 2014 at the Charles M. Nelson Memorial Chapel in Berryville with Reverend Clare Kelley officiating. Cremation arrangements are under the direction of Nelson Funeral Service. Memorial donations may be made to Alzheimer's Arkansas, 201 Markham Center Drive, Little Rock, Arkansas 72205 or www.alzark.org. Online condolences may be sent to the family at nelsonfuneral.com. Nelson Funeral Service, Inc. 2014.