Pat Clark

October 14, 1958 - December 4, 2021

Patricia Sue Clark passed away Saturday December 4, 2021. She is survived by her two sons, Buddy & Bob Wallace and her sister, Betty Richards. Pat grew up a small-town girl, the youngest daughter of Marlow and Patricia Foster. Being the smallest earned her the lifelong nickname among family of Tiny. Her father being a mechanic, he used to earn money by "junking" old cars. She reminisced about the time when she was 12, none of her older siblings were around to help take a car to the crusher so her dad put a bucket in the car, sat her in it and told her "Whatever you do keep the chain tight". She could barely see over the steering wheel but drove like she had been doing it for years. After that it became a regular thing for her to help her daddy work on cars. At 13 years old she was struck with the drag racing bug. She went every chance she could get and loved the funny cars the most. She LOVED the "Ground Pounding" excitement!!! Back then you could get right up close to the drivers with a pit pass and talk with them. She met some of the greats, including her favorite John Force, "Big Daddy" Don Garlits, Connie Kalitta and his son Scott, Cha Cha Muldowney, "The Snake" Don Prudhomme, Eddie Hill and his wife Ercie. She rejoiced over having met so many great racers over the years. It was the best sport going as far as she was concerned and shared that love with her boys which also enjoyed drag racing. At 13 she also got her first job working at Tom's Drive In. From there she worked many jobs from Braums Ice Cream to driving a catering truck around town and including earning the nickname "Pat the pin striper" while she pin striped cars at Jim's Body & Side Molding. She did everything from delivering phone books to cleaning and painting rental properties for Mike Patrick in Dawson. In 1973 at the age of 14 she got pregnant. Fighting to keep her baby she married the father, Kelly Wallace on October 14th, her 15th birthday. In December her son Bobby was born. Her son Buddy followed in 1976. She soon found herself a divorced mother with two young sons to care for. Not seeing a future in odd jobs and wanting a better life, when the opportunity came to go back to school and get her GED she did. From there she landed her first office job as a clerk for Davis Oil company where she worked for over 4 years. She spent 13 years at Mirex/Ikon, rising to the position of Administrative Manager over the Tulsa and Oklahoma City offices. While living in Southlake, TX, in 1997, she started working for Terryberry in Grapevine, TX, where she stayed for 24+ years as the Administrator of the Dallas office. Times were not always easy, at one point in her young life she was completely homeless living out of her car with her children (babies at the time). She persevered and raised her sons without child support or welfare. In her words: "It filled me with great pride that I took care of them, watched them grow and I loved my boys with every ounce of love I had in me and knew they were a blessing from God to have in my life. They gave me great joy, made me laugh and they made me cry but they also always loved me in return and that in itself is more than I could have hoped for. I thank GOD every day for giving them to me to love and trusting me to do the best I could do as a mother. I hope they both know I will always love them unconditionally for who they are and how they returned their love in so many ways." She had many interests. Music was a big part of her life, she enjoyed many different artist and styles and "LOVED, LOVED, LOVED dancing". Traveling has always been a big favorite and she did her best to make it to all 50 United States, only missing Alaska. She was always eager to go somewhere - anywhere! She didn't have a favorite place as they all held special memories, especially those trips she shared with her sister Betty. Halloween was her absolute favorite Holiday. It gave her more joy and pleasure than anyone could ever know. She had so much fun thinking up new themes to do every year. With the help of family and friends, she built many wonderful things for her neighbors to enjoy. You never knew whether there would be a space ship landed in her lawn, a volcano flowing lava or a pirate invasion. The littles - "kids" were the biggest part of it and they never knew it. She wanted to always be the house the kids could safely come to for fun at least one night a year. She also wanted to say "I thank everyone over the years that helped me build props, pass out candy and toys to get it set up and taken down, it was fun for me to see how it was going to come together." Pat had a good heart and a kind nature, she tried to help others in her own way. She gave to the Texas SPCA, supported the Angel Tree, gave to the Red Cross for disaster relief and to the American Heart Assn. She supported women's shelters, gave to the homeless, cared for neighborhood strays and helped family members when she could. She took great joy in her family and especially her grandkids Luke Hunter Wallace and Lilian Grace Wingate. I'll leave the last words to her. "I've made a lot of errors and mistakes in my life. Some I had to do again and again until I learned not to do them again. But I have led a truly blessed, crazy life. I loved some and lost some and love some that didn't deserve it, and at times didn't show my love to those that really deserved enough, for that I am sorry. I fought my way up from nothing but a small town girl with very little education and two beautiful loving sons, to living a good life and having something to show for it and I did it mainly on my terms! Love, peace and eternal happiness to all who reads this. May your blessing be many, and your troubles be few." Service: 1:00 p.m., Friday, December 10, 2021 Moore's Eastlawn Chapel, 1908 S. Memorial Dr., Tulsa, OK 918-622-1155