Joann E. Clark

Joann Emmert Clark, 96, passed away peacefully Monday afternoon, May 30th, 2022 at Bickford Cottage in Sioux City.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, June 11^th at Meyer Brothers Colonial Chapel in Sioux City at 11:00 am.  Visitation with family 10:00 to 11:00 prior to memorial service, with burial at Logan Park Cemetery following the service.  A luncheon and time of fellowship at the Sioux City Country Club will follow the services at the cemetery.

Joann was born September 11, 1925, in Des Moines, and grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, the only child of Marjorie Mullane Emmert and Joseph Martin Emmert.  Joann lived in the Dundee area of Omaha, attending school at Brownell Hall and Omaha Central High School.  It was at Central that she was nicknamed, “Chick,” by Al Bloom and friends, a nickname she carried for the rest of her life.  She attended the University of Iowa where she was a member of Gamma Phi Beta sorority and Delta Psi Omega, honorary drama fraternity.

In 1948 mutual friends set her up on a blind date with a handsome Naval Academy grad, George Thorpe Clark of Sioux City.  They were married later that year on September 25, 1948, and settled in Sioux City where Bud joined his family business, Thorpe & Company Jewellers.  Throughout their 66 years of marriage, Bud and Chick would celebrate their mutual birthdays together, including one in which their first child, daughter Marjorie Mae, was born.  Their second child, son W.E. “Rusty” Clark, was born in 1953, the only family member without a September 11^th birthday. 

Joann had a very active life in Sioux City, frequently reporting to family, “It’s a busy day!” right up until they took her car keys away.  She always said she wasn’t a “joiner” but what she belonged to was for a lifetime.  Among her longtime memberships was St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church in Sioux City.  She was a member and past-president of The American Girls study club which she joined in 1953, and was still attending into her 90s.  Joann was a member of the Junior League of Sioux City for over 70 years, and was its oldest living member when the League celebrated its 100^th birthday last year.  It was in the Junior League that Joann had her all-time favorite volunteer experiences, performing in the League’s Children’s Theatre troupes for Sioux City school children.  Joann loved to cook, dabbled in golf and gardening, enjoyed spending time at her beloved cottage in Okoboji, and adored being with her many friends…new and old, as she made friends everywhere she went.

Left behind and missing her greatly are her daughter, Margie Horgan of La Quinta, California, son Rusty (Karen) Clark of Sioux City; grandchildren Clark (Ashley) Horgan of Omaha, Julie (Nick) Horgan Wurth of Omaha, Corey Clark of Denver, and Katie (Stephen) Clark Shaw of Aurora, Colorado; nephew Gary Graning of San Antonio, Texas; plus 7 great-grandchildren, and dozens of others who weren’t lucky enough to be related to her but will miss her anyway.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, his sister, Molly Graning, and her husband, Gordon, a niece, Karen Graning Sipes, and son-in-law, Robert Horgan. 

Memorials may be directed to the charity of your choice, especially those that enhance the lives of children.