Doris McCaleb Massey Clarke of Abilene, Texas | 1924 - 2016 | Obituary
January 07, 1924 - September 22, 2016

Doris Massey Clarke, 92 of Abilene, passed away on Thursday, September 22, 2016 at a local nursing home. A family burial will be held on Monday, September 26, 2016 and a time to visit with the family will be Monday evening from 6:00PM until 8:00 PM, at Piersall Funeral Directors, 733 Butternut Street.

Doris lived a long and eventful life, full of love, kids, sports, good friends, dancing, grandkids, travel and most of all, laughter. She was the daughter of long-time Abilene abstractor Thomas O. Massey, Sr. and Ann McCaleb Massey, a local artist. She graduated from Abilene High School when she was 16 years old, and was an enthusiastic Abilene Eagle all her life. She had a college degree in business from Abilene Christian College, and shortly after the end of WW II she married Jack Martin Clarke. Doris was the quintessential stay at home mom in the 1950s. She was an excellent cook back in the day when all family meals were fixed at home. She not only sewed extremely well, she often designed and constructed many one of a kind dresses for herself and her only daughter. She was president of PTA's many times while her three children were in the Abilene Public Schools (Valley View Elementary, Franklin Jr. High and Abilene High School), just as her husband Jack was president of the Abilene High School Booster Club for so many years. After her kids were grown and off to college, she and husband Jack had some time to travel with good friends Jack and Helen Chaney, and Dub and Gin Vinson. These three couples had had kids in school together forever and they remained fast friends in the years afterward. Doris and Jack also had friends from their college days (and earlier.) The Green Bean Supper Club began in the 1940s as five young couples who would rotate between their houses for supper together once a month, and that tradition lasted for over 60 years. These remarkable friendships included Chuck and Dorotha Nell Chapman, Bill and Elsie Tippen, Ed and Margaret Hamilton, and Vern and Glennis Frost. They were young Abilenians who were committed community members that wanted to contribute to their local society and who were so proud to be from Abilene and from Texas. It was a different time, and all of these remarkable people were a shining example of family, faith and friendship that could endure through the decades.

Doris is preceded in death by her parents, T.O. Massey, Sr. and Ann McCaleb Massey; her brother, T.O Massey, Jr. and his wife Bettye Arnold Massey; her husband, Jack M. Clarke and his sisters, Juanita Clarke and Dorotha Clarke McDonald. She is survived by her children, Randall and Phyllis Clarke of Abilene, Barbara Clarke and husband John Hocker in Colorado, Tom and Tracy Clarke in San Angelo; and grandchildren, Steven and Kathryn Clarke of Abilene and Jack and Terry Clarke in San Angelo; her sister-in-law, Agnes Clarke Stone; and nieces, Marilyn McDonald Bramley (Gainesville), Ann Massey Calvert (Austin), Melinda Stone Gordon (Glendale, CO), and Dale Clarke McDonald (San Angelo).

Arrangements are pending with Piersall Funeral Directors, 733 Butternut Street.