MARVIN CLARK

O'FALLON -- Marvin Clark, 81, formerly of Jackson and Ste. Genevieve, died Friday, Feb. 13, 1998, at the Garden View Care Center in O'Fallon.

He was born July 23, 1916, at Morehouse, son of Allie and Verna Barger Clark. He married Nora Lange on May 1, 1938. She died Oct. 9, 1996.

He lived in Jackson from 1956 to 1957, when he moved to Ste. Genevieve. He moved to St. Charles in 1994 and was a member of Our Saviour Lutheran Church in St. Charles. He also was a 50-year member of the Excelsior Lodge of Jackson, the Capaha Scottish Rite Club of Cape Girardeau, Scottish Rite Temple of St. Louis, ECMO Shrine of Farmington, Moolah Temple of St. Louis, International Shrine Clown Association and the American Legion Post 150 of Ste. Genevieve.

He attended Ranken Trade School and Washington University in St. Louis and other automation by instrumentation schools around the country. He served in the U.S. Army in World War II and served with the Navy Ordinance in St. Louis as an aerial torpedo technician. He invented the thermocouple to test the turbine combustibles for the aerial torpedo and was on the team that designed the gyro that guided the aerial torpedo.

He went into the electrical contracting business, and his company did the electrical work for the first dial telephone office in Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri.

He worked for Mississippi Lime Co. in Ste. Genevieve from 1956 until his retirement in 1982 as an instrument technician supervisor.

He is survived by a son, Wayne Clark of St. Charles; a brother, Ralph Clark of Florida; a half sister, Edna Sneathen of Gordonville; and a half brother, Hank Ulecke of Dixon, Ill.

He was preceded in death by a son, a half brother and a half sister.

Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. today at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson, with a Masonic service at 7:30. Funeral will be at 11 a.m. Monday at the funeral home, with the Rev. Louis Launhardt officiating. Burial will be at Memorial Park Cemetery in Cape Girardeau.