Raymond M. “Jack” Clarke ’47

Raymond M. “Jack” Clarke ’47 died on August 27, 2008, in Scarborough, Maine.

Born in Stonington, he attended Stonington and Ellsworth schools. At Bowdoin, he was a member of three state series championship baseball teams and was drafted by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War II and served in the South Pacific Theater from 1944 to 1946. He taught in South Portland schools from 1951 to 1958, serving as principal of Lincoln School from 1952 to 1954 and as South Portland Elementary principal and area supervisor from 1954 to 1958. He was employed by Scott, Forseman & Co. from 1958 to 1978, was self-employed from 1980 to 1982, and worked in sales for Palmer Spring Co. from 1982 to 1987. He was a member of Educational Salesman’s Association of New England, served on the executive board, and was president of Maine Education Salesman’s Association. He coached youth baseball for many years, was awarded the Kenneth M. Sills Award as Little League Coach of the Year, and was inducted into the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989. He was a member of the South Portland Recreation Board of Directors, the South Portland School Board,VFW Post No. 832, and the Portland Eagles Club. His wife, Dorothy Graves Clarke, died in 2007. He is survived by his three children, Suzanne Clarke Greenleaf of Pinehurst, N.C., Thomas Clarke of South Portland, and Robert Clarke of Falmouth; six grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.