- Date Of Birth: October 15, 1923
- Date Of Death: March 8, 2016
- State: Utah
Maxine Genevieve Frizzell Clark
Oct 15, 1923 – March 8, 2016
Our amazing and wonderfully devoted mother, grandmother and great grandmother passed away peacefully after fighting to stay with her family just one more day. She passed away at the Gables Assisted Living complex where she was lovingly cared for.
She was born 92 years ago in Texarkana, TX, to Edward Milo Frizzell and Lurah Ellen Paige Frizzell. Although she was born in TX, she was raised in Pine Bluff, Ark. She was proud to be a Texan; she even went to Southern Methodist University (SMU) where she met her husband of almost 65 years, John Earnest (Earnie) Clark. They were married in Denver, Colorado on Oct 2, 1943. It was during WWII and Earnie had been sent by the Marines to the University of Colorado to complete his Civil Engineering degree. Maxine received her bachelor’s degree from SMU in Economics and Statistics; she was only 19 years old. She met Earnie in Denver to get married before he would be sent to the South Pacific. He was sent into China and was involved in freeing the people of China from the Japanese and rebuilding their infrastructure. That’s when his love of the Chinese people began and it ended in China when they lived and worked in Shanghai for 4 years before retiring to Las Vegas at age 69.
After the war, Earnie got a job with Gulf Oil in Venezuela. They packed up their two little kids and took a prop plane to Caracas and then drove to the camp called San Tome where they lived for 8 years. Maxine was the only one with a piano so she taught piano lessons. She was gifted on the violin during her school years and took up the accordion when in Venezuela. Their third child was born in Venezuela and because of health reasons they moved back to the states and picked Boulder, Colorado to live.
When Thiokol opened its plant in 1957, they migrated to Brigham City, UT. Maxine went back to school to get her teaching degree and taught 5th grade at the Perry Elementary school and the Indian School. They lived in an old frame house on Hwy 89 in Perry so their kids could have horses, dogs, worms and just about every other critter. They were active in the Community Presbyterian Church, where she was a Deacon. She started the “Experiment in International Living” in Brigham City and is still close to some of the students. She also spent many hours helping the migrant workers get decent living conditions. Because she could speak fluent Spanish, she was their advocate.
In 1966, six weeks after their first grandchild was born, they moved to Pampa, TX, to work for Cabot Corp. There, they were active in the Presbyterian Church where Maxine was a Deacon. She started a work program for handicap adults in the city. She donated the equipment, materials and her time for them to make ceramic mugs, dishes, etc. She would go all over the county selling them so the folks could have some spending money.
That was the best move they ever made. From there they were sent all over the world to build chemical plants or manage them. Every country they lived in, Maxine started an X-Pat club or Women’s Club. She became a tour guide and arranged travel to other countries. During the 26 years living overseas, they lived in 8 different countries and visited all the European and Asian countries. Her favorite place to live was the South of France. When living in Paris, they took a young Romanian girl under their wing. She had escaped a Communist country but was now all alone in Paris. She became our first adopted sister.
Wherever they lived, she was looking for a
way to help the underprivileged. When living in London in 1979, it was the “Year of the Child”, organized by UNICEF. Maxine wrote a cookbook called “Tex-Mex Cooking”, written with translation to European measurements and where to buy the ingredients or substitutes in England. Earnie paid to have hundreds of the books printed and the proceeds from sales went to the “Year of the Child”.
When they turned 65 and were ready to retire, the company asked them to build a plant
in Shanghai, China. I say THEM, because behind every successful man there is a great woman. That is what Maxine was to Earnie. This move was right in the middle of the Tiananmen Square episode with the student standing up to a tank. Because the students were rebelling against the Communist government, many of them were afraid for their lives. Maxine got to work, looking for sponsors in the USA to sponsor or give several boys jobs or education. One still works for Radio Free Asia. There were three girls close to Maxine’s heart. Two of them, Margaret and Becky, were able to get into college in America. Jane was lined up with a young man in California. Maxine and Earnie became XX-Pats in 1992 when they retired in Sun City, Las Vegas.
They both became very active in the Republican Party. They had lived in Iran under the
Shah and Venezuela under dictators so they knew that being politically involved was the only way to keep this country safe, and the Republican Party was the party for them. They helped the Young College Republicans, registered new voters at all the high schools and for years they registered new citizens at the Federal building every Friday when they came out of their swearing in ceremony. Las Vegas is a melting pot of people from all over the world so there were a lot of new citizens every Friday. In 2004, Maxine won an award and money for her Republican Women’s Club from the NRC for registering the most republicans in Nevada.
Earnie passed away in 2007 and Maxine will be buried with him in the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Park on July 1, 2016.
