Sammy Doss Clark, 85, of N. Thomason Road, Carlsbad, NM, passed away March 2, 2019 in Las Cruces, NM. Visitation will be 5 PM – 7 PM, Friday, March 8, 2019 at Denton-Wood Funeral Home. Funeral services are scheduled for 2 PM, Saturday, March 9, 2019 at Denton-Wood Funeral Home Chapel with Pastor Dick Means officiating.
Interment will follow in Carlsbad Cemetery. Denton-Wood Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements. Sammy was born in Carlsbad, New Mexico on August 13th, 1933 to L.D. (Buck) and Opal Jones Clark.
He was part of a great pioneering family. He attended Carlsbad schools. On August 7th, 1953 he married his best friend Ann Arrington at the First Assembly of God Church.
The Rev. Horace Reeves officiated. They would go on to spend 65 and a half years together and have three beautiful girls.
Before marriage he worked for Jackson and Sons Plumbing and was a member of the Union. Sammy was employed in 1953 by IMCC as a welder apprentice. He completed his courses and became a journeyman welder.
In 1960 he bought a 10-acre farm where he raised “doggie” calves, farmed cotton, and grew alfalfa. In 1962, he left IMCC during the strike. He picked up his pipe fitters’ card and worked construction as a pipe welder at various jobs, including a sugar beet plant in Hereford, Texas.
He went to work at Duval Potash in 1963 as a welder. He bought and operated Jays Drive Inn Restaurant in 1972. In 1978 he fulfilled his dream when he purchased a 16-section ranch where he ran 160 mother cows in his spare time.
That same year he sold Jays Drive Inn and went to work at Conoco Phillips in Dagger Draw. He retired from his job as a compressor and oil well operator at the age of 61. Sammy spent many years ranching and farming.
He taught his children, grandchildren, and great grandchild how to work hard and play harder. He loved fishing with his buddy Jack Ingram, taking his dog Sissy to hunt rabbits on the mule, and dancing at the senior centers in Carlsbad and Artesia. His biggest joy though was spending time with his grandson Dustin.
He would make quesadillas, take him for haircuts, go shopping at Walmart, and eat at Danny’s BBQ for lunch. He leaves behind the legacy of a hard-working man and he will be greatly missed. Proceeded in death by his parents and grandson, James Slusher.
Survived by his wife, Ann Clark of Carlsbad; daughters: Cheryl Lynn Clark of Carlsbad, Carla Ann Clark of Carlsbad and Sammie Stephens and husband, Scott of Ft. Collins, CO; grandchildren: Dustin Lee Slusher and Amber Lace Slusher and fiancé, Jose Campos; great-grandson, Hayden Smith; brother, Larry Clark and wife, Joni of Katie, TX; sister-in-law, Claudine Walls of Carlsbad and numerous nieces and nephews. Pallbearers will be Jose Campos, J.W. Todd, Jeff Acosta, Donavan Chidester, Scott Stephens, and Damon Dolan.
Honorary Pallbearers will be Dustin Slusher, Hayden Smith, Jack Ingram, Larry Clark, Sam Azzinaro, James Otts, Jim Chapman, and David Mohar.
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