Sandra Bolton Clark

Died 9/16/2019

A gracious and beautiful lady, Sandra Eleanor (Sue) Clark, of Boise, passed away peacefully with a “Mona Lisa” smile in her home Monday, Sept. 16, 2019, at the age of 79.

Born Oct. 26, 1939, in Orofino, to Virgil Bolon and Marjory Stonebraker Bolon, she attended schools in Kendrick and Lewiston and received her high school diploma in 1957 from Fort Vancouver High School, Vancouver, Wash., where she lived with her uncle and aunt, Howard and Ayliffe McElroy. Although she graduated from Vancouver High, she was always recognized as an alum of the Lewiston High Class of 1957.

Sandy was very proud of the fact she was a member of the Idaho Stonebraker family, and always wanted to go see the historic Stonebraker Ranch in the Chamberlain Basin of Idaho. Following high school, she married Michael Atkinson in 1959. They had Tammy Atkinson in Lewiston and then moved to Las Vegas. After she and Michael divorced, Sandy married Frank Smith in 1965, and they had Stacey Smith. While in Las Vegas, she worked for a government contractor and then as a bookkeeper for the Castaways Casino. In 1966, Sandy separated from Frank and moved with her two daughters to Lewiston.

In Lewiston, she worked as a legal secretary for the law firm of Blake, Givens, Feeney and Clark, where she met Merlyn Clark. They married March 15, 1969. Merlyn and Sandy had Susan Clark. Merlyn had three children, Debeney, Valerie and Douglas, by a previous marriage, so together they had six children. Following their marriage, Sandy worked as a legal assistant and bookkeeper for Merlyn until attorney Jerry Smith offered to pay her for those services and she went to work for Jerry in 1975 until 1977.

In 1977, she decided to continue her education, which she had started before she married Michael Atkinson, and from 1977-79, she attended college at Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston. While going to college, Sandy helped develop the Big Sisters Program in Lewiston and served as a Big Sister coordinator. Sandy’s other community activities included organizing workshops for Lewiston youth and developing and implementing shelter homes for Lewiston youth. She served as a volunteer worker for St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Lewiston, a volunteer coach for Lewiston’s Parks and Recreation Department, a foster parent for Lewiston’s Foster Parent Program, a member of the Lewis-Clark Council for Youth, a member of the Interagency Council and a director of the Lewiston Girls’ Center. She also helped organize the Lewiston Fine Arts annual festival.

In 1979, Merlyn and Sandy moved to Boise, where Merlyn joined the law firm Hawley Troxell Ennis & Hawley LLP. From 1980-81, Sandy worked as a caseworker for Family Advocate Program, investigating complaints of child abuse and working with abusive families. She also taught a parenting class for abusive parents. The work was so emotionally challenging that Sandy left the program and went to work for Gov. John V. Evans as his scheduling assistant in charge of his appointment schedule from October 1981 until December 1983. She also served as a backup to the governor’s personal secretary.

When she left the governor’s office, Gov. Evans wrote a letter of recommendation for Sandy that included the following: “Sandy is a talented, capable individual and has many personal qualities that would make her an asset to any employer. Her dedication, loyalty and willingness to give her very best in fulfilling her responsibilities justifies my wholehearted support in any endeavor she may pursue. Those who work with her will certainly benefit from the association.”

When Sandy left the governor’s office, she found the job of her dreams, working for Brown’s Furniture, learning to be an interior decorator. She worked for Brown’s for about two years, and then started working for Dick Ennis at Ennis Fine Furniture in Boise as an interior decorator until she retired in 2005. Sandy had a good eye for color, form, symmetry and how to make a room feel warm and inviting. One of her favorite activities was collecting designer pillows, so much so that she was known as the “Pillow Queen.”

She was exceptionally creative and created outstanding table decorations with artificial flowers. She also loved gardening and utilized her talents to create beautiful garden flower pots. In Boise, prior to her retirement, she continued to serve her community as a volunteer teacher’s aid in classrooms for emotionally disturbed children, a room mother at Garfield Elementary School and she taught weekly parenting classes for abusive parents. She was also involved in the Missing Child Program in Boise. During her retirement, she was an avid reader, a passionate music lover (a favorite trip was seeing Barbra Streisand in concert in Las Vegas) and a gardener.