Carol M Clark

In loving memory of Carol Margaret Clark, our dear mother, sister, grandma, great grandma, and friend who passed away suddenly on Jan 18, 2025 at the age of 84.

Carol was born to Leona A. Havlik (Urban) and James J. Havlik at St Joseph’s Hospital in Mitchell, SD on Nov. 13, 1940. She was the third of their seven children. She also had a half sister, Sister Denise Walsh. They lived on the farm outside of Kimball, SD until 1945 when they moved into town. Carol went to Kimball School and graduated in 1958. She wanted to be an airline stewardess, but ended up going to Stewart’s School of Hairstyling in Sioux Falls and worked as a stylist in Mitchell.

She met Larry R. Clark and they eloped to MN and were married on Sept. 10, 1962. Their daughter Kelly was born in 1964, Douglas in 1965, Bradley in 1972 and Patrick in 1974. Carol and Larry moved from Mitchell to Rapid City and then a few years later to Twin Falls, Idaho where she worked for many years as a hostess at The Mandarin House.

In 1991 Carol moved to Moscow, Idaho to be closer to her daughter and family. Her first job was at a brewery, but when that closed, she went to work for The Bon Marche/Macy’s where she worked for 22 years. During her time there she made many good friends, helped countless people, and earned many awards for her excellent service. She was also a cancer survivor, having beaten ovarian cancer soon after moving to Moscow.

Carol was an avid sports fan/fanatic. She loved all sports, but especially football, basketball and baseball. We could always count on her to cheer loudly when her team did something good and moan in agony when they did something bad. She was so happy the Chiefs won their playoff game on Saturday. However, she not only enjoyed watching sports, she was also an expert bowler in her younger days.

Carol loved nothing more than playing cards, dominos, bunco and Yahtzee. She was very competitive and had many funny phrases that she shared regularly if you were her partner and played the wrong card or if anyone put a domino in a spot where she wanted to put hers. She will go down in Havlik family history for leading the jack of diamonds in a game of Pitch at the family reunion last summer. She knew she could count on her sister Mary to have the ace. She was right – and the game was won! She loved attending all of her grandkids’ and great grandkids’ events and activities. They all adored her since she could definitely be the life of the party and always made time to hold

them, talk to them or read to them. Carol loved a good steak, but the culinary item she will always be remembered for are her deviled eggs. We begged her to bring these to every event and holiday, which she readily did. She was preceded in death by her parents, her half sister, Sister Denise, her sisters Betty Lomica and Dorothy Surat and her brothers in law, Robert Surat and Jerry Miller.

She is survived by her daughter Kelly (John) O’Bryan of Moscow, ID (children Wesley (Abigail), Christian (Lee), Allison (Aaron) and Molly), son Doug (Erin) Clark of Damascus, OR (children, Grace (Mack), Libby, Katy and Winnie), son Brad (Kristi) Clark of Letcher, SD (Brad’s children Sahkysha (Dayton), Tahneyea (Devon), Taija (Aaron) and Dahjrick (Brooke)  and son Patrick (Mikki) Clark of Mitchell, SD (children Cherish, Alix, Izik and Elliot) and 18 great grandchildren and another soon to arrive.

She is also survived by her sisters Mary (Kenny) Stanek and family, Clara (Roger) Stevens and family, Connie (Jay) Fatland and family, Jim (Joyce) Havlik and family and her brother in law Floyd Lomica and family.

Memorial service will be held at Short’s Funeral Home, Jan. 27, 11:00am, with lunch following at Bridge Bible Church. A memorial & mass are planned for this summer in Kimball, SD.