Sydney Clark

Retired school secretary and Choteau Arts volunteer Sydney Clark, 91, of Choteau died on March 1, 2025, at Benefis East in Great Falls after a short illness.

A private service will be held in Choteau on July 5, followed by a celebration of life open to the public.

Sydney was born on Dec. 18, 1933, to Warren and Edna (Haga) Munro in Bottineau, North Dakota. She was proud of her Scottish heritage and of being a North Dakotan and treasured the summer months that her family spent at Lake Upsilon.

After graduating from high school at Rolla, she attended the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks and earned a bachelor of arts degree in business education. She then taught in 1955 at a high school in Bagley, Minnesota.

In the summer of 1963, she and her family moved from Chicago, Illinois, to Choteau, which became her forever home, where she could see the mountains on the west and the plains on the east. For a time, Syd was a stay-at-home mom with her sons, Shaun and Patrick, and David, who joined the family in 1964.

In the early 1970s, she began working as a substitute teacher at Choteau Public Schools and eventually took a job as the high school secretary. She held that position for 23 years, and retired in September of 1994 as the executive secretary. In her years at the school, she made close friends, adapted to several different superintendents, and was always a calm, helpful adult who could resolve any crisis a student was experiencing.

On Aug. 14, 1973, she married John "Jack" McKenzie Clark in Choteau and they enjoyed 51 years together.

While her sons were young, Syd enjoyed cheering them on in their football and wrestling endeavors, and as they grew up and left home, she and Jack enjoyed traveling to visit them, attending graduations and weddings. She got to enjoy eight grandchildren and two great-grandsons. She looked forward to hosting the whole family every Fourth of July in Choteau.

During her life, Syd was active in the Daughters of the Nile, the Order of the Eastern Star Fidelity Chapter 18 and the Choteau United Methodist Church. She enjoyed snow skiing, water skiing, sewing and knitting. In her 80s, she learned how to play mahjong and enjoyed weekly games with friends. She also volunteered at the Choteau Arts Studio & Gallery, where she worked with her best friend since 1963, Peggy Guthrie.

Syd was a private, caring and loving person, who greatly enjoyed socializing with her circle of friends, spending time with family, and giving back to her community through volunteerism.

She was preceded in death by her brother, Jerry Kenyon.

She is survived by her husband of Choteau; her sons, Shaun (Melissa) Kelly of Forest Ranch, California, Patrick (Julie) Kelly of North Richland Hills, Texas, and David (Sharon) Kelly of Johnstown, Colorado; her grandchildren, Thomas (Stephanie) Kelly, Ryan Kelly, Samuel Kelly, Phillip (Rachel) Kelly, Callum Kelly, Patrick "Jack" (Camille) Kelly, Bridget (Spencer) Strand and Lindsay (Colin) Duecy; and two great-grandsons, Hank and Rex Duecy.

Frontier Funeral Home in Choteau handled arrangements. Memorials are suggested to the Choteau Arts Studio & Gallery, the Choteau Lions Swimming Pool or the Choteau United Methodist Church.