Clark M.D., Richardson Evans 'Dick'

Richardson Evans “Dick” Clark M.D., 98, died Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011, at the Good Neighbor Home following a short illness. Funeral services will be held 11 a.m. Friday, Dec. 2, at Community Congregational Church, Manchester, by the Rev. Kurt Pasko. Visitation will be from 3 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1, at Bohnenkamp-Murdoch Funeral Home & Cremation Service, Manchester, with a 6 p.m. Masonic service. Additional visitation will be one hour before the services Friday at the church.

Dick was born May 8, 1913, in Onaka, S.D., the son of Leslie William and Ruby (Richardson) Clark. He was raised in Chester, Iowa and graduated from the Chester High School. During World War II, he served 3 ½ years in the U.S. Army Medical Corps in North Africa and France. After V-E Day, he was honorably discharged with the rank of major. He attended Cornell College in Mount Vernon and then graduated from the School of Medicine at the University of Iowa in 1936. On March 3, 1939, Dick married Margaret Dorothy Heisler at the Cranbrook Church in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. Dick was an intern at San Diego County Hospital, interned at the Marine Hospital in Portland, Maine and was a three-year resident at Pontiac General Hospital in Pontiac, Mich. Following this training, he settled in Manchester, Iowa in July 1939 and practiced medicine until retiring in 1986.

Dick belonged to the Delaware County Medical Society and was a life member of the Iowa State Medical Society, American Medical Association and both the Iowa and American Academies of General Practice. He was a charter fellow of American Academy of Family Physicians and the Iowa Academy of Family Physicians. He was also chief of staff of the Delaware County Memorial Hospital.

In 2000, he was honored by the Iowa Academy of Family Physicians with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dick was a member of the Manchester Masonic Lodge 165 AF & FM and the El Kahir Shrine, Cedar Valley Scottish Rite. He was a past member of the Manchester school board, the Manchester Planning and Zoning Commission, director of the Manchester Housing Enterprise and a director of the Farmers and Merchants Bank.

Dick was a member of the Community Congregational Church in Manchester, where he served as deacon, trustee and council member.

He is survived by his sons, Scott (Susan) Clark of Cedar Rapids and Craig (Mary Ann Reihman) Clark of El Macero, Calif.; two grandsons, Todd (Beth) Clark of Prior Lake, Minn., and Trevor (Mary Anne) Clark of Hinsdale, Ill.; and five great-grandchildren, Claire and Sam of Prior Lake, Minn., and Rachel, Nicole and Johnathan of Hinsdale, Ill.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 63 years, Margaret “Marge”; his parents; a brother, William Clark; and a sister, Mary Anne Nickerson.

The family requests memorials be directed to the Good Neighbor Home, 105 McCarren Dr., Manchester, IA 52057.

Published Nov. 27, 2011, in The Gazette