Joanne Klein Clark (formerly Dolan)'s Obituary
Joanne Louise (Klein) Clark passed away on February 14, 2026.
A funeral mass will be held at 12:00 PM, Wednesday, February 25, 2026 in the Chapel at Sacred Heart Church at 16501 Annapolis Road, Bowie, MD. Visitation will be held prior to the funeral from 11:00 to 12:00 at the Chapel. Burial will be held at Bestgate Memorial Park, Annapolis. Repast will follow burial at Lasting Tributes Cremation and Funeral Care, 814 Bestgate Road, Annapolis.
Joanne Clark was born Joanne Klein on March 24, 1936. She grew up in Center, North Dakota where her parents owned a general store, farm implement shop, motel, and beauty shop. Joanne was an active child, enjoyed playing sports, and liked being outdoors. She also had a passion for music, which led her to attend the College of St. Benedicts in Minnesota where she earned a music degree.
While home from college one summer, she met an engineering student from a neighboring town, Ken Dolan, who was working nearby and shopped at her father’s general store, perhaps a bit more often than he needed to. Joanne and Ken were married in 1958 and moved to Baltimore where Ken started his career at the Martin Aerospace Company. There they welcomed five of their children. In 1963, Ken took a job at the Goddard Space Flight Center and Joanne and Ken soon moved into a new house in Bowie, and there their last child Charlie was born. Although Joanne was busy raising the kids, she found time for her beloved music, teaching young and adult piano students at home. She was also active in the Bowie, St. Pius X Catholic Church, where she was in the choir and played the organ. During the summers, the Dolan family did a lot of outdoor activities together, including vacations to the beach and the mountains of western Maryland. Joanne and Ken divorced in 1989.
In the years that followed, Joanne found solace in her music and her Catholic faith. She directed the Bowie Sounds of Music Singing Group which brought cheer to retirement communities, nursing homes and hospitals throughout the area. By the time she retired from the singing group, while in her 60s, she was also playing the organ at church, and teaching piano to 30 students!
Joanne met her soulmate, Leo Clark, also of Bowie, and they married in 2003 and retired to Georgetown, Delaware. In Georgetown, she enjoyed her life-long pastime of playing bridge, and loved it when her children and grandchildren came to vacation at nearby Rehoboth Beach.
Joanne is survived by her sisters Sharon Ekstrand and Rita Dinger; 6 children: Jean Stacey, Larry Dolan (Karla Ritten), Mike Dolan (Linda Thorne), Jeanette Carzon (Michael), Annie Dolan and Charlie Dolan (Lynne); 4 grandchildren, and 5 great grandchildren. She is preceded in death by her husband Leo Clark, sister Ruth Borchardt, son in law David Stacey, and parents, Lawrence and Anna Klein.
When Joanne was a child, she saw a picture of a cardinal in a book. The bird was bright red and audacious, unlike the local songbirds which blended into the Dakota prairie. She dreamed that, someday, she might see this bird. Joanne spent her last 4 years in an assisted living home in Denton, Maryland. Outside her window was a feeder where she could watch the birds she had come to know during her adult life in Maryland, including the cardinals. Sometimes, our dreams do come true.
Donations may be made in Joanne’s name to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, or The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, or a charity of your choice.
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