- Date Of Birth: August 24, 1915
- Date Of Death: March 27, 2015
- State: Illinois
Helen Jane (Clark) Townsend, age 99, passed away at home on March 27, 2015. She was born August 24, 1915 in Winchester, KS to the late Frank and Ida (Evans) Clark. Helen married Howard H. (Doc) Townsend on January 1, 1945 in Topeka, KS; he died on January 22, 1988.
Mrs. Townsend was a graduate of Topeka High School and studied at the University of Kansas. Early in World War II she started working with the American Red Cross as a librarian at the local Army base. This is where she first met and dated Howard, who was undergoing training in the Army Air Corps as a crewman for the new B-24 bombers. Howard was deployed overseas to India and they married on his return. At the end of the war they moved to Stockton where they lived for the rest of their lives.
After raising three children, Steven Neil, Marcia Anne (Dick), and Roger Clark Townsend, she worked for a time at Atwood Manufacturing, in Stockton, before returning to her first love – being a librarian. This she did in the children’s department of the Freeport Public Library for more than a decade. She was a member Wesley United Methodist Church of Stockton and the United Methodist Women. Her memberships also include the Stockton Women’s Club and the Greenvale Neighborhood Club.
Survivors include her son, Steven (Janice) Townsend; her daughter, Marcia Dick; five grandchildren; twelve great grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews. She is also survived by step daughter, Sandra Pemberton. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Howard; their youngest son, Roger; and son in-law, Thomas Dick. Also preceding her in death are step children, Dixie Stabenow and Howard H. “Howie” Townsend Jr.
