Russell B. Clark, Utah's oldest man, passed away peacefully in his 109th year on September 10, 2009. During the last months of his life he was a resident, with his wife, Donna, at the Mountain Air Assisted Living Facility in Payson, Utah. Donna died five weeks earlier on August 6, 2009.
Russell was born in Montpelier, Idaho on November 19, 1900 to Wilford Woodruff and Pamelia Dunn Clark as the ninth child in a family of eleven.
He grew up as a farm boy in Montpelier and Georgetown. He developed an early interest in medicine through watching and assisting his mother as she cared for neighbors. He went on to study medicine at the University of Utah and Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago. His M.D. degree was awarded in 1929.
He married Ruby Dorius the same year, and they later had three children, Beverly, John, and Barbara. After 19 years of successful general practice in Chicago, Russell moved with his family to Southern California in 1948, where he acquired additional surgical training and purchased a private hospital in Artesia. Change over years led to divorce.
He married Donna Keeney in 1951, and they had two sons, Robert and Stephen. Russell's professional success in California included ownership and management of the Artesia Hospital plus a second hospital in Glendora. In 1968 the family temporarily moved to Hawaii, where Russell served as doctor at Church College of Hawaii (BYU-Hawaii).
In their later years, Russell and Donna lived in Santa Ana, CA; St. George, UT; Orem, UT (Seville Retirement Residence); Salt Lake City, UT (Brighton Gardens); and Payson, UT (Mountain Air Assisted Living Facility).
Russell was active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints throughout his life. Before his medical training he served from 1919-1921 in the Southern States Mission. Later service included bishop, high councilor, patriarch, teacher, and senior missionary (with Donna) in Fort Lauderdale, FL and Jamaica 1980-1981. During many years of medical practice in Chicago and California, Russell blessed the lives of thousands of people.
His community service included the Kiwanis Club, Boy Scouts of America, and the Artesia Chamber of Commerce. He loved to travel and to meet new people. Loyalty to his family roots in farming was manifest by continuing involvement at Springdale Farm in Georgetown, ID.
Russell was successful in his business ventures, enabling quiet and continuing philanthropic donations, mostly to educational institutions and the Church. One of those, the Russell B. Clark Gerontology Conference at BYU, was directed toward education and assistance of the elderly.
He drove his own car, thankfully without an accident, until age 104. On-going business interests in Nevada resulted in his being honored as America's Oldest Worker by the U.S. Department of Labor in October of 2003. He was also a team member, coached by proud sons, of the Beach to Bay Relay Marathon in Corpus Christi, Texas, at ages 98 and 99.
Dr. Clark will be remembered for his cheerful and friendly manner, his sense of humor, his happy outlook on life, and a remarkable vitality which extended into his 109th year. Russell was positive and generous by nature. His family and friends were blessed by his life well lived.
Dr. Clark is survived by his five children: Beverly Johnson (Dr. Dale G. Johnson) Salt Lake City, UT; Dr. John Russell Clark (Antoinette Evans) St. George, UT; Barbara Boies (Robert Wayne Boies) Costa Mesa, CA; Dr. Robert Brent Clark (Anne Hess) Salem, UT; Stephen Craig Clark (Lindi Hamilton) San Diego, CA; 24 grandchildren, 53 great-grandchildren, 26 + great-great-grandchildren, and his beloved younger sister, LeOra Clark Larsen (102 years), Salt Lake City, UT.
Funeral Services will be held on Saturday, September 19, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. in the Chapel at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park & Mortuary, 3401 South Highland Drive (1495 East), East Millcreek, UT. Viewings will be held on Friday, September 18, 2009 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Sundberg-Olpin Mortuary, 495 South State Street, Orem, UT, and also one hour prior to the services on Saturday at the Chapel at Wasatch Lawn.
Interment will be in the Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery following the services.
Published in the Deseret News from September 13 to September 16, 2009.
Russell was born in Montpelier, Idaho on November 19, 1900 to Wilford Woodruff and Pamelia Dunn Clark as the ninth child in a family of eleven.
He grew up as a farm boy in Montpelier and Georgetown. He developed an early interest in medicine through watching and assisting his mother as she cared for neighbors. He went on to study medicine at the University of Utah and Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago. His M.D. degree was awarded in 1929.
He married Ruby Dorius the same year, and they later had three children, Beverly, John, and Barbara. After 19 years of successful general practice in Chicago, Russell moved with his family to Southern California in 1948, where he acquired additional surgical training and purchased a private hospital in Artesia. Change over years led to divorce.
He married Donna Keeney in 1951, and they had two sons, Robert and Stephen. Russell's professional success in California included ownership and management of the Artesia Hospital plus a second hospital in Glendora. In 1968 the family temporarily moved to Hawaii, where Russell served as doctor at Church College of Hawaii (BYU-Hawaii).
In their later years, Russell and Donna lived in Santa Ana, CA; St. George, UT; Orem, UT (Seville Retirement Residence); Salt Lake City, UT (Brighton Gardens); and Payson, UT (Mountain Air Assisted Living Facility).
Russell was active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints throughout his life. Before his medical training he served from 1919-1921 in the Southern States Mission. Later service included bishop, high councilor, patriarch, teacher, and senior missionary (with Donna) in Fort Lauderdale, FL and Jamaica 1980-1981. During many years of medical practice in Chicago and California, Russell blessed the lives of thousands of people.
His community service included the Kiwanis Club, Boy Scouts of America, and the Artesia Chamber of Commerce. He loved to travel and to meet new people. Loyalty to his family roots in farming was manifest by continuing involvement at Springdale Farm in Georgetown, ID.
Russell was successful in his business ventures, enabling quiet and continuing philanthropic donations, mostly to educational institutions and the Church. One of those, the Russell B. Clark Gerontology Conference at BYU, was directed toward education and assistance of the elderly.
He drove his own car, thankfully without an accident, until age 104. On-going business interests in Nevada resulted in his being honored as America's Oldest Worker by the U.S. Department of Labor in October of 2003. He was also a team member, coached by proud sons, of the Beach to Bay Relay Marathon in Corpus Christi, Texas, at ages 98 and 99.
Dr. Clark will be remembered for his cheerful and friendly manner, his sense of humor, his happy outlook on life, and a remarkable vitality which extended into his 109th year. Russell was positive and generous by nature. His family and friends were blessed by his life well lived.
Dr. Clark is survived by his five children: Beverly Johnson (Dr. Dale G. Johnson) Salt Lake City, UT; Dr. John Russell Clark (Antoinette Evans) St. George, UT; Barbara Boies (Robert Wayne Boies) Costa Mesa, CA; Dr. Robert Brent Clark (Anne Hess) Salem, UT; Stephen Craig Clark (Lindi Hamilton) San Diego, CA; 24 grandchildren, 53 great-grandchildren, 26 + great-great-grandchildren, and his beloved younger sister, LeOra Clark Larsen (102 years), Salt Lake City, UT.
Funeral Services will be held on Saturday, September 19, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. in the Chapel at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park & Mortuary, 3401 South Highland Drive (1495 East), East Millcreek, UT. Viewings will be held on Friday, September 18, 2009 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Sundberg-Olpin Mortuary, 495 South State Street, Orem, UT, and also one hour prior to the services on Saturday at the Chapel at Wasatch Lawn.
Interment will be in the Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery following the services.
Published in the Deseret News from September 13 to September 16, 2009.
Russell B. Clark, Utah's oldest man, passed away peacefully in his 109th year on September 10, 2009. During the last months of his life he was a resident, with his wife, Donna, at the Mountain Air Assisted Living Facility in Payson, Utah. Donna died five weeks earlier on August 6, 2009.
Russell was born in Montpelier, Idaho on November 19, 1900 to Wilford Woodruff and Pamelia Dunn Clark as the ninth child in a family of eleven.
He grew up as a farm boy in Montpelier and Georgetown. He developed an early interest in medicine through watching and assisting his mother as she cared for neighbors. He went on to study medicine at the University of Utah and Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago. His M.D. degree was awarded in 1929.
He married Ruby Dorius the same year, and they later had three children, Beverly, John, and Barbara. After 19 years of successful general practice in Chicago, Russell moved with his family to Southern California in 1948, where he acquired additional surgical training and purchased a private hospital in Artesia. Change over years led to divorce.
He married Donna Keeney in 1951, and they had two sons, Robert and Stephen. Russell's professional success in California included ownership and management of the Artesia Hospital plus a second hospital in Glendora. In 1968 the family temporarily moved to Hawaii, where Russell served as doctor at Church College of Hawaii (BYU-Hawaii).
In their later years, Russell and Donna lived in Santa Ana, CA; St. George, UT; Orem, UT (Seville Retirement Residence); Salt Lake City, UT (Brighton Gardens); and Payson, UT (Mountain Air Assisted Living Facility).
Russell was active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints throughout his life. Before his medical training he served from 1919-1921 in the Southern States Mission. Later service included bishop, high councilor, patriarch, teacher, and senior missionary (with Donna) in Fort Lauderdale, FL and Jamaica 1980-1981. During many years of medical practice in Chicago and California, Russell blessed the lives of thousands of people.
His community service included the Kiwanis Club, Boy Scouts of America, and the Artesia Chamber of Commerce. He loved to travel and to meet new people. Loyalty to his family roots in farming was manifest by continuing involvement at Springdale Farm in Georgetown, ID.
Russell was successful in his business ventures, enabling quiet and continuing philanthropic donations, mostly to educational institutions and the Church. One of those, the Russell B. Clark Gerontology Conference at BYU, was directed toward education and assistance of the elderly.
He drove his own car, thankfully without an accident, until age 104. On-going business interests in Nevada resulted in his being honored as America's Oldest Worker by the U.S. Department of Labor in October of 2003. He was also a team member, coached by proud sons, of the Beach to Bay Relay Marathon in Corpus Christi, Texas, at ages 98 and 99.
Dr. Clark will be remembered for his cheerful and friendly manner, his sense of humor, his happy outlook on life, and a remarkable vitality which extended into his 109th year. Russell was positive and generous by nature. His family and friends were blessed by his life well lived.
Dr. Clark is survived by his five children: Beverly Johnson (Dr. Dale G. Johnson) Salt Lake City, UT; Dr. John Russell Clark (Antoinette Evans) St. George, UT; Barbara Boies (Robert Wayne Boies) Costa Mesa, CA; Dr. Robert Brent Clark (Anne Hess) Salem, UT; Stephen Craig Clark (Lindi Hamilton) San Diego, CA; 24 grandchildren, 53 great-grandchildren, 26 + great-great-grandchildren, and his beloved younger sister, LeOra Clark Larsen (102 years), Salt Lake City, UT.
Funeral Services will be held on Saturday, September 19, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. in the Chapel at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park & Mortuary, 3401 South Highland Drive (1495 East), East Millcreek, UT. Viewings will be held on Friday, September 18, 2009 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Sundberg-Olpin Mortuary, 495 South State Street, Orem, UT, and also one hour prior to the services on Saturday at the Chapel at Wasatch Lawn.
Interment will be in the Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery following the services.
Published in the Deseret News from September 13 to September 16, 2009.
Russell was born in Montpelier, Idaho on November 19, 1900 to Wilford Woodruff and Pamelia Dunn Clark as the ninth child in a family of eleven.
He grew up as a farm boy in Montpelier and Georgetown. He developed an early interest in medicine through watching and assisting his mother as she cared for neighbors. He went on to study medicine at the University of Utah and Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago. His M.D. degree was awarded in 1929.
He married Ruby Dorius the same year, and they later had three children, Beverly, John, and Barbara. After 19 years of successful general practice in Chicago, Russell moved with his family to Southern California in 1948, where he acquired additional surgical training and purchased a private hospital in Artesia. Change over years led to divorce.
He married Donna Keeney in 1951, and they had two sons, Robert and Stephen. Russell's professional success in California included ownership and management of the Artesia Hospital plus a second hospital in Glendora. In 1968 the family temporarily moved to Hawaii, where Russell served as doctor at Church College of Hawaii (BYU-Hawaii).
In their later years, Russell and Donna lived in Santa Ana, CA; St. George, UT; Orem, UT (Seville Retirement Residence); Salt Lake City, UT (Brighton Gardens); and Payson, UT (Mountain Air Assisted Living Facility).
Russell was active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints throughout his life. Before his medical training he served from 1919-1921 in the Southern States Mission. Later service included bishop, high councilor, patriarch, teacher, and senior missionary (with Donna) in Fort Lauderdale, FL and Jamaica 1980-1981. During many years of medical practice in Chicago and California, Russell blessed the lives of thousands of people.
His community service included the Kiwanis Club, Boy Scouts of America, and the Artesia Chamber of Commerce. He loved to travel and to meet new people. Loyalty to his family roots in farming was manifest by continuing involvement at Springdale Farm in Georgetown, ID.
Russell was successful in his business ventures, enabling quiet and continuing philanthropic donations, mostly to educational institutions and the Church. One of those, the Russell B. Clark Gerontology Conference at BYU, was directed toward education and assistance of the elderly.
He drove his own car, thankfully without an accident, until age 104. On-going business interests in Nevada resulted in his being honored as America's Oldest Worker by the U.S. Department of Labor in October of 2003. He was also a team member, coached by proud sons, of the Beach to Bay Relay Marathon in Corpus Christi, Texas, at ages 98 and 99.
Dr. Clark will be remembered for his cheerful and friendly manner, his sense of humor, his happy outlook on life, and a remarkable vitality which extended into his 109th year. Russell was positive and generous by nature. His family and friends were blessed by his life well lived.
Dr. Clark is survived by his five children: Beverly Johnson (Dr. Dale G. Johnson) Salt Lake City, UT; Dr. John Russell Clark (Antoinette Evans) St. George, UT; Barbara Boies (Robert Wayne Boies) Costa Mesa, CA; Dr. Robert Brent Clark (Anne Hess) Salem, UT; Stephen Craig Clark (Lindi Hamilton) San Diego, CA; 24 grandchildren, 53 great-grandchildren, 26 + great-great-grandchildren, and his beloved younger sister, LeOra Clark Larsen (102 years), Salt Lake City, UT.
Funeral Services will be held on Saturday, September 19, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. in the Chapel at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park & Mortuary, 3401 South Highland Drive (1495 East), East Millcreek, UT. Viewings will be held on Friday, September 18, 2009 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Sundberg-Olpin Mortuary, 495 South State Street, Orem, UT, and also one hour prior to the services on Saturday at the Chapel at Wasatch Lawn.
Interment will be in the Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery following the services.
Published in the Deseret News from September 13 to September 16, 2009.
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