Obituary Headlines

Lloyd Clark, who cherished Dallas, UTA ties, dies at 91

Staff WriterBy JOE SIMNACHER jsimnacher@dallasnews.com

Lloyd Clayton Clark Jr. had a long career in journalism, public relations and public service, which he blended with his passion for history.

While much of his career was spent in Arizona, Clark was loyal to his Texas roots.

Clark, 91, died Nov. 17 of natural causes at an assisted living center in Paradise Valley, Ariz.

No services are planned, but his ashes will be scattered at the University of Texas at Arlington, where he entered journalism on the student newspaper.

“He was incredibly curious and interested in lots of different things,” said his son, Roger Clark of Flagstaff.

Born in Belton, Clark was about 10 when his parents divorced. He and his mother moved to Dallas, where they lived briefly with his grandfather Harold Taylor.

Clark followed his grandfather’s footsteps and attended North Texas Agriculture College, now the University of Texas at Arlington. Clark was editor of the campus newspaper, The Shorthorn, in 1941-42 and battalion commander for the ROTC during the summer of 1942.

He was continuing his education at Louisiana State University when the Army activated his ROTC unit in 1943. He was assigned to Fort Knox, Ky., but was hospitalized for several months with tuberculosis. He recovered and became editor of The Camp Hood News.

In 1944, he was fit for full duty and transferred to the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, where was commissioned a second lieutenant. He was public relations officer there until he left active duty in July 1946.

Clark returned to Dallas and to study journalism at Southern Methodist University. He was a reporter at The Dallas Morning News during his SMU days.

He received a bachelor’s degree in journalism in January 1948 and moved to Arizona to study Portuguese at the American Institute of Foreign Trade in Glendale. In 1949, he earned a bachelor’s degree in foreign trade from the institute.

In 1950, he married Jean Reeves, who died in 2010. Clark settled into a journalism career as a reporter and editor at the Phoenix Gazette, the evening newspaper to the Arizona Republic. He covered the statehouse and the Arizona Superior Court.

In 1966, Clark left the newspaper and founded the Council of Abandoned Military Posts, an Arizona nonprofit dedicated to preserving the heritage of armed-forces outposts.

In 1967, he returned to active duty as an Army instructor at Fort Gordon, Ga. He was promoted to colonel in 1976, while heading the U.S. Army Reserve School at Fort Huachuca, Ariz. He retired from the military in 1979.

In 1972, Clark received a master’s degree in public administration from Arizona State University. He was a regional administrator for Arizona’s Northern Council of Governments and later ran the SouthEastern Council of Governments, and taught history at Rio Salado Community College in Tempe. He was a program administrator for the Arizona Department of Transportation when he retired in 1983.

He returned to journalism as a writer and editor for The Arizona Weekly Gazette, now the Arizona Business Gazette. Until about four years ago, he wrote a weekly column for the Daily News-Sun of Sun City, Ariz.

Dear family and friends,

At 10:05AM on Monday 11/17, I was flying in a light plane with a friend north of Prescott over a reach of an ephemeral Verde river, when my dad died. For about a month, he was living reluctantly in an assisted care home, two blocks east of my sister Cindy's home.

Before minor surgery in Oct. to unblock his intestine, dad was living independently in an apartment in Surprise, in the same gated community where he and my mom lived before she passed in 2010.   My wife Joelle and I spent the day with dad on Saturday, recalling stories of places we had been, and comfoting him as his breathing grew more difficult. He did not want to live any longer without his independence.  

Dad's obituary maps out a few milestones of a rich life. It doesn't say that he was obsessed with the movie Casablanca, which coincidentally played on a cable channel on Monday night. Nor does it tell of his dream to become publisher of the Mayer Miner, a local paper that disappeared while Prescott Valley was still home to antelope.

And so much more.

Thank you all for your graciousness and generosity. 

Roger 

Lloyd Clayton Clark, 91, of Surprise, AZ died on November 17, 2014. Born in Belton, Texas on August 4, 1923. Married Jean Reeves in Prescott, AZ on June 17, 1950. Joined U.S. Army in 1942 and retired as a colonel from the Army Reserve. He was a reporter for the Dallas Morning News and Phoenix Gazette. He later worked for northern Arizona and southeastern Arizona councils of government and Arizona Department of Transportation. He taught history at Rio Salado Community College and served as a board member for the Arizona Historical Society and Geographic and Historic Names. He founded the Council on Abandoned Military Posts in 1966. In 1984, he wrote about the 40th anniversary of an escape by German prisoners from Papago Park. He created a group that became known as the "Papago Trackers,'' which invited the former POWs to reunite at the park in 1985. Most recently, he was a columnist for the Daily News-Sun City. He published three collections of columns beginning with Here’s Looking at You in 1997. He received a Bachelor of Science in journalism in 1948 from Southern Methodist University; Bachelor of Foreign Trade in 1949 from the American Graduate School of International Management; and a Master of Public Administration in 1972 from Arizona State University. 

Survivors include son Roger Clark (Joëlle) of Flagstaff and grandchildren Jean-Philippe and Janine; daughter Cynthia Hotchkiss (Gary) of Paradise Valley and grandchildren Nathan, Theodore, Jonathan, and Jennifer; daughter Candyce Eggen (Jeffrey) of Las Vegas, NV, granddaughters Bridgette (Eggen) Foster and Alida (Eggen) Plante and four great grandchildren.  

At Lloyd’s request, there will be no formal services. Please share memories at http://lloyd-clayton-clark.forevermissed.com. Lloyd's ashes will be spread on the campus of the University of Texas at Arlington. In lieu of flowers, please make contributions to the Arizona Historical Society, 949 E. 2nd St. Tucson, AZ 85719-4898 or the Taylor Family President's Scholarship, University of Texas at Arlington, UTA Box 19198, Arlington, TX 76019-0198.