Elizabeth Jean Clark

GIBSONBURG- Elizabeth Jean Clark, wife of Theodore W. “Ted” Clark, passed away peacefully on February 26, 2017 at Elmwood Assisted Living of Fremont.

 

She was born to Dr. D. Finley and Henrietta (Smith) Wood in Gallipolis, Ohio on November 22, 1919. As a pastor’s daughter, she lived in several Ohio communities: Belpre, Chillicothe, Washington Court House, Cincinnati, Delaware and Fostoria, Ohio. She graduated from Walnut Hills High School in Cincinnati, and attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music where she studied opera and classical music and became a lifelong member of the Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity.  Jean also studied at Baldwin Wallace College and Bowling Green State University.

 

Jean married Theodore W. Clark on September 14, 1941 at the Methodist Church in Fostoria, Ohio.  Her father, D. Findley Wood, pastor of the church, and her grandfather, Rev. James Henry Smith, conducted the ceremony.  At the time of Ted’s death, they had been married sixty years.

 

Jean was a longtime resident of Gibsonburg. She was a homemaker, school teacher, music instructor and active in her church and community.  Jean and Ted moved to Gibsonburg around 1946, where she spent her early years as a full-time homemaker and mother to her four children.  Later, she worked as a substitute teacher in the Gibsonburg School system for approximately ten years.  Jean had a passion for music and was a talented musician in voice, piano and violin.  She shared this passion by providing private instruction to individual students in her home.  Jean was a long-time member and supporter of the Toledo Symphony and the Toledo Opera, also serving in the Toledo Opera Guild.  She demonstrated her commitment to Christ by serving wherever she was needed at Faith United Methodist in Gibsonburg teaching Sunday School, singing in and directing the Adult Choir, and directing the Junior Choir.  Various committees prospered under her leadership, and she remained an active member of the United Methodist Women throughout her life.  Jean was an avid reader and always enjoyed learning.  Her desire to try new things showed up often in her hobbies of sewing and cooking.  Through the years, she enjoyed playing Bridge with her friends in community card clubs and was a longtime member of the Delphians and the Sorosis Club of Gibsonburg.  Jean especially enjoyed spending time with her family.  It delighted her to have them all together at one time.  She was blessed with ten grandchildren and twenty-seven great grandchildren.  Her abundant grace, kindness, quick wit, and positive outlook will be missed by all who knew her.

 

Preceding her in death was her husband, Theodore “Ted” W. Clark and sister, Margaret Johnston.  Surviving are her children, son, James T. Clark and his wife Cheryl of Fremont; son, Jerald F. Clark; son, Stephen D. Clark and his wife Linda of Fremont; and daughter, Rebecca L. Montgomery and her husband Rev. Mark E. of Gibsonburg, OH.

 

Visitation for Jean will be held on Friday, March 3, 2017 at the Herman-Veh Funeral Home & Cremation Services, Gibsonburg from 3:00 p.m. -7:00 p.m. On Saturday, March 4, 2017, there will be visitation held at Faith United Methodist Church from 9:30 a.m. until the start of the funeral service at 10:30 a.m. Rev. Robert Metheny will officiate, and burial will follow at West Union Cemetery, Gibsonburg.

 

Memorials may be made to Faith United Methodist Church, Gibsonburg, Gideons International, Salvation Army or to Stein Hospice.