Joseph J. ‘JC’ Clark, 103

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SALIDA —Having lived to the age of 103, Joseph J. (“JC”) Clark, a quiet, unassuming, gentle man peacefully passed from this life into the next on Dec. 24, 2019, at the Colorado Veterans Community Living Center (CVCLC) at Homelake.

He served for 19 months with the Army Air Corps in World War II in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater with the 565th Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion.

He was a cryptologist who typed personnel rosters and records and handled correspondence for the Intelligence Department.

(Cryptology is the conversion of data into a secret code for transmission over a public network.)

Mr. Clark was born on Sept. 6, 1916, in a home in the San Luis Valley where he eventually farmed for 13 years.

When farming was no longer a viable option, he moved his family to Salida, and worked for the Colorado State Reformatory in Buena Vista for 21 years before he retired.  He loved to fish and hunt small game and would often return to the Valley to enjoy those hobbies with friends.  He enjoyed playing cards and he loved gardening.

He was always making sure his plants and lawn got the attention he felt they deserved in his well-groomed yard.

He and his wife, Madelyn, enjoyed 73 years of marriage. To their union three children were born, one, a girl, died at birth and Cheryl and Craig, both single. Ronnie Clark, who lives in Texas, is Mr. Clark’s son by his first marriage.

Cremation was selected and a memorial, along with burial, will occur in Salida at a later date, to be determined.

Mrs. Clark is deeply grateful to those who took care of “JC” at the Veterans’ Center where the couple has resided for the past two years.