Charlotte Clarke

We mournfully announce the passing of Charlotte Clarke, 85, of League City, Texas. Charlotte passed away on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021 due to heart complications.

Charlotte, born to parents Joseph Regnald and Clara (Lyons) Clarke took her first breath Oct. 17, 1935 in DeQuincy. She was grateful for being shaped as a child and young person by the First Baptist Church of DeQuincy and she had lifelong comfort through her personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

After graduating from McNeese University, Charlotte taught elementary school in Louisiana and Dickinson, Texas briefly before enrolling in the Louisiana State University Master of Social Work program.

Early in her distinguished social work career she worked at the University of Texas Medical Branch Child Development Program in Galveston and the Cerebral Palsy Center in Houston. She was the first coordinator of the University of Texas-Austin School of Social Work field practice program. She was recruited by the University of Kentucky and lived in Hazard while she started a field practice program in Appalachia. Her efforts were acknowledged by the governor of Kentucky with a commission as a Kentucky Colonel.

In 1978, she joined the Texas Department of Health to lead the Social Work and Children with Special Health Care Needs program in a 35 county area of East Texas, headquartered in Tyler. She developed and led a comprehensive system of services that became a model for the state. In the 1970s, there were no pediatric subspecialists in the region, so she recruited physicians from UT Southwest, UTMB, Children’s Hospital in Little Rock to travel to East Texas to offer access to multidisciplinary clinics.
In her spare time, she founded the Holt House, a non-profit resource center for “growing older better” helping seniors age in place. Holt House provided enrichment and enjoyment for hundreds in 30 years of operation.
Charlotte’s accomplishments in the field of social work earned many accolades and awards, most notably a national recognition as a Social Work Pioneer by the National Association of Social Workers, and Lifetime Achievement from Texas NASW.

After retiring, she volunteered with the Heifer Project in Arkansas and a Mother Teresa orphanage in Delhi, India, and enjoyed RV trips exploring the country and visiting her loved hometown of DeQuincy, and friends around the country.

She is survived by sibling Mary Katherine (Clarke) Hammond of Tyler, Texas; sister-in-law, Barbara Bass Clarke of Houston, Texas. Surviving nephews and nieces (by age) are LCDR Gary Edwin Hammmond (Catherine), Kenneth Wade Clarke, Charlotte Anne Browning, Colette Clarke Torres (George Charles), Stephen Clarke (Helen), Mark Allen Browning (Kristen), Lisa Gaye Hammond, Celia Clarke Zamadics (Stephen), Roger Clarke Browning (Connie), Brian Joseph Clarke (Jane), Rita Gayle Hammond Kendall, Randal Craig Browning, Laura Clarke Strain (David), Allison Clarke; and numerous grand-nieces and nephews and great-grand nieces and nephews.

She was predeceased by her parents; and siblings Joseph R. Clarke Jr (Marilyn Miller), Kenneth Clarke, Clara Louise (Clarke) Browning (Merle); brother-in-law, Granville Semmes Hammond; and nephews, Granville Clarke Hammond and Richard Clarke. Her extended family of friends made and held in every phase of her life will remember her devotion to them and their families.

The many who loved Charlotte express gratitude for loving care provided by Amy Earle during her last years and to Barbara Brandon for her friendship and care.

Anticipating an online service due to COVID-19 concerns. A celebration of Charlotte’s life will be held when it is safe to gather. Charlotte donated her earthly remains to UTHealth McGovern Medical School.

If you have been touched by Charlotte’s life and wish to make a gesture of remembrance, please consider the needs in your community and donate financially or with your service. It would please her to know the lives of vulnerable elderly, struggling families, helpless animals, our planet, were helped as a tribute to her life on earth.

“Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

(Paid Memorial)

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