Posted by Terry Powers on November 16, 2022:

Brigadier General Frank P. Clarke, U.S. Army (Ret.), 94, of Rock Island died August 24th, 2017 at his home. Memorial services will be 11 am, Monday at the Wheelan-Pressly Funeral Home and Crematory, Rock Island. Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the funeral home on Monday. Inurnment will be in the Rock Island National Cemetery, Arsenal Island, where military honors will be conducted. General Clarke was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Louis E. and Annabelle Payne Clarke. The Clarke family moved to Michigan shortly after his birth. He graduated from Grosse Pointe High School in 1941. He began studies in Engineering at the University of Michigan, but in 1942 he enlisted in the Army. Little did he know he was embarking on a successful 34 year career! He served as an enlisted man in the Field Artillery and then the Engineers until 1945, at which time he received an Army appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. He graduated from the Academy in 1949 as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Ordnance Corps. He spent one year in Korea and two separate tours in Germany. After a tour in Germany, he earned a Masters degree in Engineering Science at Purdue University. He then served as an instructor and assistant professor teaching Senior cadets at West Point. He then spent a year in combat in Vietnam, where he served as a support battalion commander in the 198 Infantry Brigade and in the Americal Division. He then served as G-4 of the division. He was commanding officer of the Rock Island Arsenal in Rock Island, Illinois, and also Red River Army Depot in Texarkana, Texas. His last services were in the Tank Automotive Command in Detroit, the Training and Doctrine Command in Virginia and the Test and Evaluation Command in Maryland. In addition to the normal Army schools, Frank attended the Armed Forces Staff Collage and the National War Collage. In 1962, General Clarke, then a Major, boarded a ship which was to take him to Germany for duty with Headquarters Seventh Army. On the ship he met a young school teacher, Carol Baccigaluppi, from Burlingame, California. She was on her way to teach American children in the American school system operated by the Department of Defense. Frank and Carol were both assigned to Stuttgart, Germany. They were married there in 1963, first by the Mayor of Stuttgart (as required by German-American agreement), and four days later by an American chaplain in a military chapel. In 1965 they were blessed with the birth of their daughter, Cathleen. In 1973, Frank and Carol were married in the Catholic Church, with young Cathy at their side. Frank always said that this was one of the happiest days of his life. He often joked about having married Carol three times. Upon his retirement from the military in 1976, he and his family returned to the Quad Cities. He joined the First National Bank of the Quad Cities in 1976 and became President and Chief Operating Officer of the Bank in 1982. He retired in 1986. Frank was an ardent golfer. His claim to golfing fame was that he had made the two holes-in-one in his life. These were made two weeks apart when he was seventy years old. He also enjoyed fishing, woodworking and working on his computer. He is survived by his loving wife of 54 years, Carol; his beloved daughter, Cathy Williams, Moline, IL; his sister Barbara (Robert) Olds, Kingman, AZ. He was particularly proud of his two granddaughters, Caroline Williams of Chicago,IL and Claudia Williams of Cambridge, MA. He was preceded in death by his parents and brothers Lou, Robert, and Howard and his best pal Bradley M. Williams. www.wheelanpressly.com/obituary/BrigadierGeneralFrank-ClarkeUSArmyRet

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