Dave Clarke

Orem/Aurora, Utah - David "Dave" Ronald Clarke Jr., age 89, passed away peacefully at this home in Orem, Utah, December 18, 2022, with family by his side.

Dave did a hundred things not dreamed of by most people, most of which couldn’t fit here anyway. But perhaps his most salient characteristic was his knack for narrative—he knew how to tell a story. His own began in a log cabin on a ranch in Salmon, Idaho, as the first of seven children, born January 2, 1933 to David Ronald and Louise Child Porter Clarke, Sr. He grew up on small farms in Idaho and Montana before his family finally settled in Clarkston, Utah, where he studied French, acted in school plays, and developed an early love for learning.

War was raging in Korea when Dave graduated from North Cache High School Class of ‘51. He attended just one quarter at Weber State before joining the Air Force—an adventure that would land him in Japan after training as an air traffic controller in Biloxi. After three years in Japan, he continued in flight control, working some thirty-five years for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as a civilian air traffic controller at then-McCarran Field in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Dave was dad to many. He married Karen McCulloch in June 1958 and together they bore four children. They later divorced and in 1973 he married Raelene Brooksby, mother of six—all still living at home. Dave helped raise them and was accepted, and respected, by them.

After retiring from the FAA, Dave and Raelene took to more bucolic settings, first in Monticello, Utah (where he drove combines in the arid wheat fields of the Colorado Plateau), then to Aurora (into a home that was, it is worth noting, little more than a log cabin before he crafted it into a large, handsome home). There, Dave established a successful sewing machine repair shop, restoring vintage Singers with the same care as he fixed Bernina’s for the local school district.

In 1997, Dave and Raelene served eighteen months in Dunmore, Montana, as missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Raelene died in 2013 and Dave married Margaret Egbert in September 2013. They lived in Aurora until recently.

Dave was thoughtful, even pensive, and kind. He hated the sound of teeth scraping on forks; bad grammar was never tolerated. He loved family, books, anything cowboy, sewing machines, old cars and airplanes. Most of all, he loved his children—all of them.

Dave is preceded in death by brothers: Warren Patrick and James Thomas, and sister: Bessie Nell; grandsons: Dallin Bastian and Caleb Clarke Holyoak; and a great grandson: Kaimana Opunui.

He is survived by wife Margaret; siblings Arthur P., Mary Louise Barker, and Merlyn John; the children of the three families: John Clarke, Kathryn Turnbow, Pauline Holyoak, William Clarke; Scott Brooksby, Denae Bastian, Blake Brooksby, Sherilynn Buckner, Janice Opunui, Craig Brooksby; and Wayne Egbert, Kevin Egbert, Shanna Dow, Brett Egbert; and 51 grandchildren and 70 great grandchildren.

Funeral service will be held Wednesday, December 28, 2022, at 12:00 Noon in the Aurora 1st LDS Ward Chapel, 85 North Main Street in Aurora, where friends may call for viewing Wednesday morning from 10:00 to 11:30 prior to the services.

Burial with military honors accorded by the Salina American Legion Post #36 and the Hill Field Air Force Base Honor Guard will be in the Aurora City Cemetery under the care of the Springer Turner Funeral Home of Richfield and Salina, Utah.

FUNERAL SERVICES LIVE STREAM

Video will also be available at facebook.com/springerturner