Vicki Clarke

Vicki Sue Clarke, of Raleigh, North Carolina, died peacefully in her sleep on Monday, March 7, 2022. Her son, Walter, was at her side. She was 81.

Vicki was born in Cape Girardeau to Emma Jean and James Oliver Sides. She ran wild on Bessie Street with her brother, Jimmy Ray, and sisters, Donna and Mary Ann. There were stories of being tied to a tree and shot with an arrow during a reenactment of their favorite Western. She had a scar on her lip to prove it. They gave each other swirlies and dyed Mary's hair an awful shade of platinum blonde. She admitted to stealing Coca-Colas on the rare occasion her mother was able to afford them, and hid the bottles for special occasions. She loved her family with every fiber of her being.

Vicki married Walter H. Clarke, Jr. in 1966, and they had three children together -- Katherine, Walter, and Martha. When they were little, their mother meant the smell of cigarette smoke, Doublemint gum, and Nina Ricci perfume. Beautiful and glamorous, despite having little money to help her be either of those things. She baked French bread, made Jell-O pudding pies, and served a lot of boiled hot dogs. She played the piano beautifully, and tried with a startling lack of success to develop this talent in her offspring.

Divorced at age 40, and with a shockingly small bank account, Vicki packed up her things, teenage daughter Martha in tow, and reinvented herself as a realtor in Louisville, Kentucky. She had backbone, and pride, and a lot of fight in her. Vicki knew how to make do.

For the last sixteen years of her life, Vicki lived in Raleigh, near her son, Walter, his wife, Deborah and their three children, Emma Kate, Walter Redding and Eason. In her retirement, she watched an awful lot of MSNBC, protested the war in Iraq with her sister, Mary Ann, in D.C. wrote any number of angry letters to her cable company and homeowners' association and made an absolutely lovely group of friends and neighbors in town and on her cul-de-sac.

She took tremendous enjoyment out of watching Kentucky basketball. She never met a dog she would not happily adopt. She was crazy about Luciano Pavarotti and Ludwig van Beethoven. But, more than anything, Vicki adored her six grandchildren. They were the loves of her life. She saved her change for visits to the Dollar Store and her credit card points for their Christmas fund. She made and decorated cookies and coffee cakes with them and chatted on the phone as often as they would allow it.

Vicki was predeceased by her parents, Emma Jean and J.O.; her brother, James Ray; and her grandchild, Eason. She is survived by her sisters, Donna (Michael) Price and Mary Ann (Ronald) Wyatt; her sister-in-law, Kay Sides; her three children, Katie Boone (Dennis Ogle), Walter (Deborah) Clarke and Martha Clarke (Roger Mosier); her grandchildren, Samantha Boone, Emma Kate and Walter Redding Clarke, and Olive and Lucy Mosier; six nieces and nephews and their families.

Special thanks go to the caring staff at the Oaks at Mayview. The family is particularly grateful to Cora Johnson, who cajoled and sassed and joked with Vicki in the last two months of her life, providing kindness and care when they could not be by her side. The world is a better place with her in it.

A private service of remembrance for family and close friends will be held Sunday, May 29 at Hayes-Barton United Methodist Church in Raleigh. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in Vicki's name go to Transitions LifeCare/Hospice of Wake County, the Democratic National Committee, or Saving Grace Animals for Adoption.