Obituary of Brian W. Clarke

Brian (Boru) Clarke was born July 2, 1921 in Utica and died there on December 25. He was nicknamed after the ancient King of Ireland by his grandfather, William Tyler Baker. He attended Utica Country Day School and after graduating in 1939 took a job in military ship construction in the Fall River Shipyards in Quincy, Massachusetts. He entered the Army in June 1943, joining the ski troops of the 10th Mountain Division at Camp Hale, Colorado. He attended Infantry Officer Candidate School, Fort Benning, Georgia, graduating in November 1944 as a 2nd Lieutenant, and became Jump Master in December. On August 30, 1945 he was among the first American troops to fly into Japan. Later he commented that when he looked out the aircraft window at the mighty American fleet anchored in Tokyo Harbor, it occurred to him that his biggest contribution to the victory was his work in the Fall River Shipyards years before. He was in the Army of Occupation until September 1946. After the War, Boru attended Utica College, graduating with a Syracuse University degree in 1949, in the first Utica College graduating class. He then pursued a career in the textile industry in New York City, working briefly with Cannon Mills and then joining Burlington Industries. In 1952 he married Ann Barry in Utica. The family resided in Greenwich, Connecticut until 1980, when he purchased Brownell Business Equipment of Yorkville, and returned to live in Clinton. He retired in 1990. Boru loved the outdoors and athletics, especially skiing, tennis and canoeing. He was an excellent amateur carpenter, building furniture and porches, etc. Although not much of a cook, he perfected the art of baking blueberry muffins. Since 1930 he spent all his summers, except during the War years, at the family house on the West Canada Creek in Barneveld. He is survived by his wife, Ann; his daughters, Ann, New York City, Catherine, Ridgway, Colorado, and Margaret, Boulder, Colorado; his son-in-law, Peter Rinaldi, Portland, Oregon; his grandchildren, Joseph Brian Rinaldi, Portland, and Amy and Marley Silverman, Boulder; two sisters, Margaret Clarke Howland, Marion, Massachusetts, and Catherine Clarke Cardamone, Clinton; two brothers-in-law, James S. Kernan, Whitesboro and Richard J. Cardamone, Clinton; and many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his daughter, Phoebe; two sisters, Marietta von Bernuth and Agnes S. Kernan; and two brothers, William Tyler Clarke and Roderick Clarke. Funeral services will be held 10am Monday, December 29, 2008 at Historic Old St. John's Church, Utica, where a Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated. Burial will be in St. Agnes Cemetery. Friends are invited to call Sunday from 2-4pm at Owens-Pavlot Funeral Service, Inc., 35 College St., Clinton. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida County, 1222 State Street, Utica, NY 13502