Willene B. Clark

Savannah,

Professor Willene Buckman Clark died January 24, 2015.  She was born in Savannah April 12, 1932 to Nephew King and Helen Walthour Clark. The first 8 years of her life were spent at her family home on Wilmington Island on the Wilmington River, just a short distance from her maternal grandparents, Henry & Helen Walthour. Henry Walthour developed Wilmington Island and is accredited with the completion of the road from Savannah and the first turn-bridge over the Wilmington River in 1927. Willene graduated from Pape School (now known as Country Day) with high honors which provided her with a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania where she obtained her BA degree. Willene continued her studies by getting her Masters degree in art and music history at Columbia University in New York. Her thirst for knowledge led her to the best in her field where she obtained her PHD in art history at YALE.

Willene had fallen in love with New England. She applied for a job teaching art and music history at Marlboro College in Vermont where she remained until retirement. She was on the college President’s Advisory Board, the board of the township of Marlboro and a member of the ski patrol. During her tenure at Marlboro she received several sabbaticals to study abroad doing research on her favorite topic, the writings, drawings and paintings of the medieval period. She published several books, the most noteworthy are her two volumes on the Bestiaries. She was fluid in translating ancient Greek, Latin, German and French. Her publication most interesting for us in Savannah was the editing and publication of her paternal grandfather’s Diary, which came out in book form under the title of “ Valley of the Shadows” in 1994. Willene’s grandfather was a Captain in the Confederate Army of Tennessee. He was an elderly gentleman when he returned from the Civil War and married the young Josephine King. She was the daughter of the Rev. Charles Barrington King, the Episcopal minister in Savannah and Anna Wylly Habersham, granddaughter of James Habersham.

Willene had studied abroad at The Ludwig Maximilian University, in Munich, Germany,  The University of Liege, Belgium, had a US Fulbright scholarship, a Rotary Foundation Fellowship, Grants from the Anson Kittridge Foundation, Ingram Merrill Foundation, National Endowment of the Humanities (USSR), an American Philosophical Society Grant, Kress Foundation publications grants and the Victorian Society Certificate of Merit for the Stained Glass Art of William Jay Bolton which she published in 1992.

In addition, she published A Medieval Book of Beasts in 2 volumes, The Animal Chapters in the Saint Petersburg Tresor, 12 ^th & 13 ^th Century Latin Sermons and the Latin Bestiary, The Medieval Book of Birds, The Stained Glass Art of William Jay Bolton, Gothic Revival Stained Glass, to name a few.

Professor Clark was a frequent lecturer at many places of learning: State Public Library in Leningrad, Russia (then USSR), University of Colorado in Boulder, The Medieval Institute, Kalamazoo, Michigan, at the Medieval Conference, Harvard University, Conference on Environmental Glass, Oklahoma City, OK , and The Medieval Circle at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va

She is survived by her brother, Nephew King Clark Jr, his wife and her loving sister-in-law, Kerstin, nieces Helen Iocovozzi (Kim,), Monica Sullivan (Michael), nephew Gustav Clark (Anna) and 6 grandnieces and 3 grandnephews

A tea will be held at Marlboro Collage for tributes from her fellow colleagues and friends of the Marlboro community with a presentation of her work.

The family wishes to express gratitude to Lisa and Shawn and the knowledgeable staff of Shadow Moss Plantation for their compassionate care.

In remembrance, give generously to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, 322 8 ^th Ave., 7 ^th fl, New York, N.Y. 10001.   Credit card donations: 1-866-232-8484

The brain you save might be your own.

Low Country Cremation Services & Burial   www.bradleybanderson.com