A Life Well Lived - Early morning, on June 8, 2009, my husband and friend of over 50 years, died.  To the very end he was true to himself and others.  Born in Montreal, Canada on August 11, 1928, the only child of Roger Winthrop Clarke and Anne Matheson Clarke.  He grew up in South Pasadena, California.  Attended Southwestern Military Academy in San Marino and graduated from South Pasadena High in 1947.  There he developed his lifelong deeply patriotic beliefs.

Don attended city college in Pasadena and in 1960 graduated from Cal State, Los Angeles with a B.S. in sociology.  During his training he developed his interests in statistics, engineering, and an insatiable curiosity in the world around him.  Married Coreen Young (Clarke) and helped raise their daughter Laura Clarke Garcia in Pasadena and later Santa Barbara.

In the days before computers, he worked as a researcher on issues related to medicine and social welfare.  In his personal life, he surfed, hiked, biked, gardened, read, traveled, and told stories.  He moved to Scottsdale, Arizona in 1991 where he lived an energetic life, actively studying the natural world to discover the workings of the universe.  He died June 8, 2009, at Kwatsi Desert Garden Park on the Scottsdale Ranch.

To the very end he was the captain of his own fate, absolutely true to himself and to his lifelong philosophy of living and loving well.  There were many people whose lives he touched, sometimes briefly, and sometimes in great depth, who will never forget him and he will live on in our lives forever through stories of his experiences and the many and varied adventures he had with his beloved partner, Coreen and daughter Laura.  Don, may you soar with the clouds you love, out into the universe and beyond...And when we look up, we will see you and draw from your strength.  Au voir...

Published in The Arizona Republic, June 21, 2009