Lois Clark, a longtime former resident of Clackamas County, died in Gresham on Oct. 30. Mrs Clark was born in Seneca, Neb. on Aug. 21, 1929, the firstborn child of Edith and Elmer Williams.
In June, 1938, the Williams family headed westward, traveling from Wyoming to Washington’s Olympic Peninsula in a 1932 pickup. Elmer Williams had built a “canopy” on the truck bed so that it looked like a motorized covered wagon. The family – which now included four children – camped their way across five states, to arrive on the Elwha River, near Port Angeles, Washington, where Lois’s uncle ran a riding stables at which her father worked.
Mrs. Clark’s family moved to the slopes of Mt. Hood in Oregon during the late 1940s. In July 1950, Lois married John Waldron. The couple lived in Sandy until 1961, and had four children: Kaye, Michael, Daniel and James. A subsequent marriage to David Pederson in 1964 produced two sons: Eric and Curt. In 1970 Lois married Everett Clark, and together they raised Everett’s six and Lois’s five sons.
The Clarks moved to Lyle, Wash in 1980. In the years since, Lois’s almost full-time volunteer work took her many places across the United States and around the globe. She volunteered for, and often led, the Dorcas Society (the community service arm of the Seventh-day Adventist Church) in every community in which she lived.
The church played a very important role in Mrs. Clark’s life. In addition to the Dorcas Society, Lois was a leader in the Pathfinders Club, a spiritual version of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Pathfinders learned the same practical outdoor skills and respect for nature as Scouts do, with an emphasis on the Creator. Lois was a Master Guide and helped many youngsters achieve that level.
In addition, Lois has been active for decades in the American Red Cross, where she served as a disaster relief worker, traveling to many other states and countries. Lois received advanced training so that wherever a flood, earthquake, fire or other natural disaster occurred, she could mobilize and help quickly organize Red Cross relief teams. In that capacity, she traveled to the Southeast, the Northeast, the Midwest, Central America and the British Virgin Islands, to name only a few destinations.
She was awarded numerous honors and citations for her community service work, from Pathfinders, Dorcas and the American Red Cross.
Husbands David Pederson and Everett Clark preceded her in death, as did her son Daniel and brother, Larry. She is survived by eight siblings: Doris Brownhill of Sherwood, Ore., Norma Stiles of Sandy, Ore., Fran Kilmer of Spokane, Wash.; Cathy Garrett of Portland, Ore.; Lela Markwell of Sandy, Ore.; Chuck Williams of Prineville, Ore., and Karen Rathjen and Mari Nielsen, both of Sandy, Ore.
Mrs. Clark is also survived by five children: Kaye Winona of Kalispell, Mont.; Mike Waldron of Port Angeles, Wash., James Waldron of Connell, Wash., Eric Pederson of Lyle, Wash., and Curt Pederson of Airway Heights, Wash. She has 12 surviving grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren, and one great-great grandson. Arrangements were made by Sandy Funeral Home, OR for private burial in Appleton, Wash.