CLARK, Mary Jean (Adams) 1918-2005

CLARK, ADAMS, ROUSE, ARMSTRONG, CRANE, EDENFIELD, WHITNEY

Posted By: S. Bell
Date: 9/28/2014 at 23:52:13

[Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Sunday, June 5, 2005]

WATERLOO - Mary Jean Armstrong Clark, 87, of Friendship Village, died Thursday, June 2, 2005 at Covenant Medical Center, Waterloo.

She was born April 9, 1918, in Waterloo, daughter of Fred D. and Mary Rouse Adams. She married James G. Armstrong on June 29, 1939. They were divorced in 1975. She then married Craig O. Clark in 1979. They were divorced in 1999. She graduated from East High School in 1935, and received her bachelors degree in music from the University of Northern Iowa in 1940.

She played the violin in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra for 30 years, in the 1930s as their youngest member and in the 1980s and 90s, when she retired at the age of 80. She worked for Waterloo Welcome Wagon from 1970-1980. She was a 50-year member of Chapter IX of the PEO Sisterhood, Christ Episcopal Church and then Trinity Episcopal Parish, a founder of Waterloo Teachers Community Concert (Metro Concerts Association), a longtime member of LMI (Ladies Musical Improvement Club), Delta Gamma Sorority, and a Sword of Honor recipient of Sigma Alpha Iota national professional music fraternity.

Survivors two daughters, Mary (Jeffrey) Armstrong Crane of Thousand Oaks, Calif., and Elizabeth Edenfield of Savannah, Ga.; six grandchildren, Laura and Adam Crane, Joshua (Jessica), Elijah and Daniel Edenfield and Jerusalem Brown; a great-grandson, Dylan Brown; a brother, Fred (Jeanne) Adams of Zimmerman, Minn.; and one of her nieces, Audrey (Arnie) Adams Sorge, who lives in Waterloo.

Preceded in death by parents; and a sister, Kathleen Whitney.

Memorial services will be held later this summer. She has donated her body to the University of Iowa College of Medicine for scientific purposes. Locke Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Memorials: may be directed to the Waterloo/Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra at Gallagher-Bluedorn PAC, Cedar Falls, 50614-0803.

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[Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Wednesday, August 3, 2005]

Mary Jean Adams (Armstrong) Clark, of Waterloo, died on June 2, 2005, at the age of 87 at Covenant Medical Center after a brief illness.

She was born in her parents' home on Walnut Street on April 9, 1918, to Fred and Mary Adams. She attended East High and was concertmaster of the orchestra under conductor Elizabeth Green, who was one of the founders of the Waterloo Symphony. At the age of 15 she began playing with the Waterloo Symphony under its conductor, George Dasch, and was the youngest member of the symphony at that time. She graduated from East High in the class of 1935.

Mary Jean attended Iowa State Teachers College (UNI), the University of Michigan, and the University of Illinois. She married Jim Armstrong in June 1939, and finished her music degree in piano performance at the University of Iowa in 1940.

Mary Jean and Jim resided in Clarinda, Iowa, during World War II, where he was stationed with the Army at the prisoner of war camp. Upon returning to Waterloo, she joined the symphony again. She became a member of Chapter IX of the PEO sisterhood in 1946, and in that same year was part of an executive board of dedicated music lovers who organized the Waterloo Teachers Community Concert Association (what is now Metro Concerts), whose goal was to bring some of the country's best headline talent in music and artistry to the community. She joined Ladies#' Musical Improvement (LMI) in 1948, an organization that is now celebrating its 100th year and was formed to provide a platform to perform for its musical members. She left the symphony in 1950 to devote her time and energy to raising a family throughout the '50s and '60s.

She divorced Jim Armstrong in 1975 and returned to the symphony. She married Craig Clark, of Waterloo, in 1977. She worked for Welcome Wagon from 1988 to the mid-1990s, promoting the best assets of Waterloo and Cedar Falls. In 1996, she spearheaded a project to rename the East High auditorium for her former music teacher and orchestra conductor, Elizabeth Green, who had gone on to become a well-known educator, musician and author. The auditorium was renamed in Elizabeth's honor in 1997.

At the age of 81, in 1999, Mary Jean courageously divorced Craig Clark and forged ahead on her own once again. She had retired from the symphony at the start of its 1998 season when she was its oldest member, but continued to attend the concerts she so loved. In July 2004 she was endowed, anonymously, into Friendship Village by two friends who were concerned for her welfare and health. Thanks to their love, concern and generosity, she lived very comfortably and contentedly there until her death.

She is survived by two daughters and their families, Mary (Armstrong) and Jeff Crane, of Thousand Oaks, Calif., and Elizabeth (Armstrong) Edenfield of Savannah, Ga. She had six grandchildren, Laura and Adam Crane, and Jerusalem (Edenfield) Brown, Joshua, Elijah and Daniel Edenfield, as well as one great-grandson, Dylan Brown. She is survived by a brother and sister-in-law, Fred and Jeanne Adams of Zimmerman, Minn., (formerly of Cedar Falls). One of her nieces, Audrey Adams Sorge, lives in Waterloo and showed her much kindness.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her sister, Kathleen Whitney, of Pasadena, Calif.

Her daughters remember her kindness and generosity toward others, especially in times of need, and the universally gracious way she treated everyone with whom she came in contact. She was a "friendship matchmaker," who loved introducing people whom she believed would enjoy knowing one another or would find mutual benefit from her introduction. Not only was she talented musically, she was creative and energetic, courageous and strong, cheerful and optimistic.

Memorials may be directed to the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Symphony Orchestra at Gallagher-Bluedorn PAC, Cedar Falls, 50614-0803.

Memorial services will be held this Saturday, Aug. 6, at the Waterloo Center for the Arts at 11 a.m. A Feast of the Transfiguration service with Eucharist will be held at 9 a.m. on that date at Trinity Episcopal Parish as well. She has donated her body to the University of Iowa College of Medicine for scientific purposes. Locke Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.

The family requests that no flowers be sent, but welcomes any correspondence from her friends and colleagues, which can be sent to Mary Crane, 1626 La Granada Drive, Thousand Oaks, CA 91362.

Black Hawk Obituaries maintained by Karen De Groote.
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