Charlotte Clark

June 25,1924 - December 30, 2019

Posted

June 25,1924 - December 30, 2019

“My name is Charlotte Clark. I didn’t receive my name, Charlotte until I was two years old. They just called me Baby. I was the youngest of six children all born in the period of eight years; Carl, Betty, Georgene, Richard, Vera and me.

Our family was having a picnic and a neighbor girl was asked to join us. She accidentally spilled mustard in my hair, lots of it! Mother was upset because of the mustard, but decided Charlotte, the name of the neighborhood girl, was just the name she had been searching for! I was no longer called Baby, but Charlotte. The day I was named, was my first memory!

I was born in our home at Fauntleroy, West Seattle, just before the great depression.

When I was six years old, Mother and I were walking on California Avenue, when she said, ‘Quick, duck into this storefront. See that man across the street? That’s the doctor that delivered you and you aren’t paid for yet!’ I saw a man wearing a dark suit, hat and overcoat walking down the opposite side of the avenue. He quickly passed by.

I know my birth was never paid for but, praise the Lord, I have been born again! This time, my birth and yours too is paid for by the precious blood of Jesus!” Excerpt from “The Voice of the Dove” by Charlotte Clark.

Charlotte Ferrell Leischner Gelling Clark was a phenomenal woman, who with all her heart loved Jesus, her family and her home at Adelma Beach. She was a woman filled with gratitude, love and generosity. Her kitchen and home as well as her heart was always open.

Holidays and family gatherings were a special treat for her. Easily 20, 30, 40 people could be gathered around a table, whether it be a party at the beach or a holiday meal with tables stretching from one end of the house to the other. None of us will ever forget her baked goods - 10 pies with homemade crusts and fruit picked from her garden in one day was an easy accomplishment for her, even in her 80’s. Ahh her Christmas gingerbread boys, pies, bread and rolls!

“I was just outside the main gate at Fort Worden. I was seventeen years old and was married to P.F.C. Lester Leischner, the father of our three children, Madeline, Jeannette and Gary.

The Fort Worden Chapel was filled to overflowing. The Christmas service and scriptures were about the shepherds.

The Chaplain gave an invitation ‘Even as the shepherds come, you come!’

I came to the altar and knelt and asked forgiveness for my sins and asked Jesus to come into my life. I listened to the voice o’ the Dove and answered his sweet call.”

Jesus was her devotion. Daily reading and practice of scriptures was a mainstay of hers. She wasn’t a pushy Christian - she had room in her heart for those of us who didn’t believe as she, yet she was always delighted when someone was ‘born’ again.

Bill Gelling was her second husband and the father of her fourth child, Holly.

She and her third husband Ray Clark, worked with a few other families to physically build the Church of the Nazarene.

She loved creating and projects were of special delight, whether it be driftwood art, bible puppet shows or keeping up her house on Adelma Beach.

She always enjoyed a swim at the beach. On her 75th Birthday she received a wet suit so she could continue to enjoy her swimming. She always wanted to go swim with the whales. Many of her Grandchildren as well as Great Grand Children learned to swim by her side at Adelma Beach.

She is survived by her 4 children: Madeline Thompson, Jeannette Wilson, Gary (Barbara) Leischner and Holly (Jim) Blankenship; 8 grandchildren Denise (Frank) Arey, Rick Thompson, Steve Wilson, Amy (Terry) Khile, Garrett (Erin) Leischner; Jonathan Wilson, Ryan Wilson and Jessie Wilson; 12 great grandchildren and 9 great great grandchildren.

Every day she was filled with gratitude - living at the beach, her family and her love of Jesus.

Dear Charlotte, may you be with your family in Jesus’s arms. We love and miss you.