Timothy Clarke, 69, of Howard and formerly of Fedora, passed away on Sept. 3, 2023.

Funeral services were held Friday, Sept. 8, at Beach United Methodist Church, Howard. Burial followed in Morgan’s Cemetery, Fedora. Visitation was Thursday, Sept. 7, with a prayer service and reflection at the Methodist Church in Howard.

Timothy Bernard Clarke was born to Bernard and Rose (Manthe) Clarke on March 26, 1954, in Mitchell. He was raised on a farm near Fedora. Tim attended school in Fedora until it closed in 1966. Then, he attended school in Howard, where he graduated in 1972. 

As a young teen, having been exposed to mechanics from an early age, he became the youngest Yamaha dealer, both selling and repairing motorcycles. After high school graduation, Tim worked as a teller at Miner County Bank. He simultaneously began his flight training, which eventually led to a commercial pilot’s license and a crop-dusting business: Clarke Aerial Spraying.

On Nov. 18, 1978, he married Peggy Austreim. To this union, four daughters were born.

During his years crop dusting, Tim shifted his full-time work back to the family business, Clarke and Sons Implement, where he sold and repaired farm implements and facilitated snow removal. 

In 1992, he purchased the homestead that his great-grandparents had worked.

After a thirty-year career at Clarke and Sons, Tim returned to the Miner County Bank, which later became River’s Edge Bank, where he worked as a loan officer and vice president until his retirement in 2022. 

In his later years, his body was overwhelmed by several health challenges, including polycystic kidney disease. On July 6, 2023, Tim opted to have his ailing kidneys removed in a complicated but successful surgery.

Timothy is survived by his wife, Peggy; daughters, Abigail Bisschop (Chris), Megan Wright (Andy), Emily Heilman (Shane) and Allison Muilenburg (Tim); 19 grandchildren; sisters, Bernetta (Dick) Burghardt and Jean Clarke (Jeff Krieger); and a brother, David (Wanda) Clarke. 

He was preceded in death by his parents, Bernard and Rose Clarke; Peggy’s parents, Orrin and Margaret Austreim; and his sister-in-law, Kathleen (Austreim) Quinn.