Lois P. Clarke

Lois P. Clarke, age 82, of Bryan, Ohio, died at 5:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 12, 2009, at Community Hospitals and Wellness Centers in Montpelier, Ohio, where she was a patient. Mrs. Clarke was a 1944 graduate of Bryan High School and a 1948 graduate of Bowling Green State University. She was a long-time educator, having taught three years with the Fostoria School System at the beginning of her teaching career and then taught seventh grade in the Bryan City Schools for twenty-seven years, retiring in 1979 after thirty years of teaching. She served as secretary of the Bryan Education Association for several years and was a Martha Holden Jennings Scholar at Bowling Green State University from 1973-1974. After her retirement from teaching, she worked as clubhouse manager at Suburban Golf, Inc. and then for ten years as a secretary for Roose and Associates in Bryan. Lois was active in the community as a member of the First Presbyterian Church, the Williams County Retired Teachers Association, the Ohio Retired Teachers Association, the Fraternal Order of Eagles Auxiliary, the Bryan Community Hospital Auxiliary, of which she was president in 1995-96, and was a charter member in 1957 of the Women of the Moose Chapter 618 in Bryan and served as 1st Senior Regent. She was the first woman elected to the Bryan City Council in 1982 and served for twenty-three years. Lois Clarke Lane was named in her honor for that achievement. Her past memberships include Delta Kappa Gamma Sorority, of which she was past president of the Delta Zeta Chapter, Bryan Business and Professional Women’s Club, Phi Beta Psi Sorority and the Order of the Eastern Star. She also served the Williams County Economic Development Corporation representing the City of Bryan. She was recipient of the Athena Award in 1993. Lois Patricia Clarke was born on May 8, 1926, in Bryan, Ohio, the daughter of Olan H. and Bertha E. (McDonald) Rubel. She married Ralph V. Clarke, Jr. on July 23, 1960, in Toledo, Ohio, and he survives. Also surviving are two sons, William F. (Tina) Clarke, of Woodstock, Georgia, and Nick (Chris) Clarke, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, one daughter, Cynthia K. (Lynn) Baker, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, five grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, her nieces and nephews, three brothers, Don (Marguerite) Rubel, of Bryan, Ohio, Jim Rubel, of Jacksonville, Florida, and Ned (Becky) Rubel, of Adrian, Michigan, and two sisters, Mim Castor, of Bryan, Ohio, and Sharon Newing, of Toledo, Ohio. She was preceded in death by her parents, one brother, Gerald Rubel, one sister, Phyllis Hagelberger, and her stepmother, Dorothy (Steele) Rubel. Visitation for Lois P. Clarke will be on Monday, March 16, 2009, from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. in the Krill Funeral Home, 860 West Mulberry Street, Bryan, Ohio. Services will be held on Tuesday, March 17, at 11:00 a.m. in the Krill Funeral Home with Reverend Barry Sweet officiating. Interment will follow in Fountain Grove Cemetery, Bryan, Ohio. Memorials in the name of Lois P. Clarke may be given to the First Presbyterian Church, the Bryan Hospital Auxiliary, or to a charity of the donor’s choice.