Obituaries

August 11, 1940-October 3, 2023

It is with much sadness, heavy hearts and true thankfulness we had to let this larger than life, love of our lives, move out of the darkness and into God’s hands. He struggled with Vascular Dementia but always had a spark in his eyes when family or friends were around. We will be forever grateful for that.

Stan gave me three wonderful children in our 62 years, who in turn gave us nine absolutely perfect grandchildren, who then blessed us with eleven adorable great grandchildren. Family was Stan’s greatest love. He was our hero.

I met Stan in 1957 during our high school years. He was involved with Sea Cadets and was chosen with three other Prairie Cadets to join a ship as a deckhand and sail to Hawaii. The three Prairie Cadets were the only ones who did not suffer sea sickness. The next year he was chosen to be an escort for Princess Elizabeth’s tour of Esquimalt and Vancouver Island.

When Stan graduated from High School he joined the Alberta Forest Service, attending the Forestry Training School in Hinton. He graduated with honours and went on to become a Chief Ranger, and later Fire Boss for one of six Fire teams who were exported all over Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Ontario, NWT, Yukon, Alaska and Oregon. Fighting forest fires was his passion. He was a pioneer in the first Heli-torch attack, hanging off the front of a helicopter lighting back burns to halt the rapidly spreading fires.

Stan retired from AFS after 35 years, for three days, then went on to form his own company Silver Fox Management as a consultant for another 10 years, officially retiring in 2005.

He was an avid outdoorsman and loved taking his kids and grandkids fishing, hunting, camping, frogging or whatever else they could get into.

Stan was predeceased by his parents Mabel and Lloyd Clarke. He is survived by Carol-Ann, his spouse of 62 years, two sisters, Lois Clarke and Lynn Cameron and their families, his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren He was everybody’s hero and will be missed by his entire family, as well and because of Stan's impact on our lives, his passing will also be a loss to his extended family

Stan spent over two years at the Grande Prairie Care Centre. I cannot thank the nurses, LPN’s, caregivers, recreation aides, dietary, cleaning and laundry ladies for their outstanding care of my love. He was such a character and they enjoyed him so much, especially when he was in a cooperative mood. A very special hug to them and to his personal caregiver who was so attentive to his needs. Also a huge thank you to Drs. Pope and Anez for the exemplary care they provided Stan over the years.

Please no flowers but donations to the Grande Prairie Palliative Society, a nonprofit organization, #204 10134 97 Avenue Grande Prairie or to the Family Council at the Care Centre, 9705 94 Avenue, Grande Prairie, T8V 3A2, to enhance the quality of life for those suffering from Dementia/Alzheimer’s.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Sunday, October 15 at 1pm at Bear Creek Funeral Home 11802 99 Avenue Grande Prairie. Live streaming of the service will also be available.

Care entrusted to Bear Creek Funeral Home 780 830 7742 bcfh.ca