Joan Harrison Clarke

Joan Harrison Clarke, 81, born on October 10, 1931, in Muskogee, Oklahoma, passed away August 6, 2013. She resided in Sylmar, California at the time of her passing. She attended Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama and earned a degree as a Dietitian. She worked for many years as a Therapeutic Dietitian at Cedars-Sinai Hospital. After her marriage to her husband Alton, she worked as a secretary at COHR, Inc, for many years. Joan had a son, Aubrey, as a "surprise' child, and this changed her life completely. She became a stay-at-home mom, but she worked with her husband in his radiology business by typing his reports to the various hospitals and helping him as he taught X-ray technician classes and physics classes at L.A. Valley College. Tragedy entered her life when her son Aubrey died unexpectedly from a brain aneurysm at age 32. He had been married only a year when this occurred. Her husband Alton died in 2005, and Joan began to have many health challenges. She spent the last five years of her life at Lifehouse Maclay in Sylmar, where they cared for her health needs. Arrangements are under the direction of Forest Lawn, Glendale.