John Douglas Clark passed from this life on September 17, 2008 at the age of 81 after a lengthy and debilitating illness. John was born June 27, 1927 to the late Mary Waddell Clark and Dr. Fred Harlow Clark. He was preceded in death by his brother Fred Harlow Clark, Jr. and his parents.

John is survived by his brother Myrick Canfield Clark and sister in law Mary Savage Clark, both of Raleigh, NC; He is also survived by his only niece Laura Clark Hamill and her husband Burley G. Hamill, III of Wake Forest, NC, four nephews, Gregory Harlow Clark and his wife Heather of Kent, WA and Myrick Canfield Clark, Jr. and his wife Lorraine of Glen Burnie, MD, Christopher Maury Clark and Douglas Stephen Clark both of Raleigh, NC, great-nieces Heather Viens Barber and her husband Shane of Garden City, SC, Alyssa Clark of Raleigh, NC and Victoria Hamill of Wake Forest, NC, great-nephews Adrienne Clark of Kent, WA, Michael Clark of Raleigh, NC and Myrick C. Clark III of Glen Burnie, MD, a great-great niece Natasha Clark of Glen Burnie, MD and a great-great-nephew Lucas Paul Barber of Garden City, SC.

John, like his brother Fred, lived from birth with Cerebral Palsy, through which they touched many lives. John had a lifelong love of anything from the old west; movies, pictures and songs. He had a complete collection of Roy Rogers & Gene Autry movies which he would watch over and over with gusto and enthusiasm as if he were watching it for the first time and loved even more to share watching those movies with his brothers and friends at Red Gate Home where he resided.

He had a great love of horses and it was always a special treat for John to ride to the country to see the horses galloping and grazing in the field. The staff at the Red Gate often arranged for up-close and personal visits from horses for John's birthday parties where he could actually pet them. He also had his own collection of "guns & pistols" along with the holsters that he loved to wear on occasion and be a "show off."

John was a great people person with a warm and funny personality and delighted in visitors and going out visiting himself and he always loved going on trips with the staff and other residents from the Red Gate.

The Clark Family would like to express their deepest gratitude to the ARC of Southern Maryland and to the staff of the Red Gate Group Home on Point Lookout Road in Leonardtown, MD, where John had resided for 25 years. The high standards, care, compassion and love provided by the staff was unsurpassed and should be highly commended. He came to know the staff as family, as did his brother Fred who also resided at the Red Gate with him until his death in 2004.

A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, October 18, 2008 at 3:00 PM in Grace & Peace Presbyterian Church, 22646 Benswood Road, California, MD 20619.

Contributions may be made to The ARC of Southern MD, P.O. Box 338, Leonardtown, MD 20650.

Arrangements provided by Mattingley-Gardiner Funeral Home, P.A.

Rev 21:4
"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; For the former things (of this life) are passed away."

"We shall no longer be of this life what we once were, for once we see the Light of Heaven we shall be as one with another and with God. All afflictions will be abolished in Heaven and what we have endured in life on Earth was for benefit and testimony of another and shall be rewarded in the Kingdom of Heaven."