OBITUARIES
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1996:
Nancy Sue Clark, 71, of South
Bend, Indiana, a frequent contributor of photographs
to ANIMAL PEOPLE and president
of the Coalition of Hoosiers Encouraging
Ethical Treatment of Animals, died January 5
of an apparent aneurism as she drove to a
medical appointment after mailing us her last
packet of photos. Born in Ohio, raised in
Detroit, Clark (then Nancy Sue Tarbell)
began her career in activism in 1943, as a
member of the Detroit Interracial Committee,
working to peaceably resolve issues that had
sparked race riots earlier in the year. Earning
a degree in sociology from Wayne State
University, Clark worked with welfare children
in Detroit and Pittsburgh, served with
the American Red Cross in Johnstown,
Pennsylvania, and after marriage to Robert
Thomas Clark in 1952, spent nearly 40 years
as a child welfare caseworker in South Bend.
Also active for animals throughout her life,
Sue Clark volunteered at the Orphan Animal
Care Shelter in South Bend until it closed,
and was vice president of the Indiana
Campaign for Animal Welfare, a forerunner
to CHEETA. The South Bend Tribune
recalled that she personally paid for anti-fur
newspaper ads. The day before her death, she
met with Indiana officials at the statehouse to
urge the use of immunocontraception to stabilize
deer populat ions in state parks. “Sue was
in great spirits on our return home,” remembered
longtime friend Kaye Bauer, “talking
about plans for letters she would write and
activities to be organized. The day was cold
and blustery, but we were thrilled by a line of
about a dozen whitetails crossing a snowy
meadow. Sue had a marvelous sense of
humor, was compassionate always, but had a
feisty sparkle in her eye. As a friend stated at
her funeral, ‘Sue was loved and respected by
almost everyone, except by a few people who
wrote nasty replies to her letters about deer.’”