OBIT: Clara Templeton Crank

Clara Templeton Crank passed from this earth on October 2, 2026.  She was born in Little Rock Arkansas on 23 June 1930 and was the first child of George Earl Templeton (b 1899) and Gladys Jones Templeton (b 1903). George and Gladys successfully piloted their family through the Great Depression with George’s dependable work as a bus mechanic for Missouri Pacific. Clara’s childhood was marked by the joy of growing up with a brother 1 year younger than her and later with their sister 6 years her junior. She committed herself to Christ and was baptized in 1936 at the 28^th Street United Methodist Church in Little Rock.  She graduated from Little Rock High in 1948 and enrolled in Henderson State Teachers college in 1949 to start her college career.  She met Darrell Crank in 1951 while they were in college together.  They were wed in the summer of 1953 before he was drafted into the US Army.  She joined Darrell in Boston, Massachusetts where he was stationed until his honorable discharge in 1955.  They began their teaching career together in the Texas school system in Port Lavaca, then Denton, then Alice where their three sons were born. They raised their three sons in Alice, Freer, Los Fresnos, Ganado and Pharr Texas where Darrell retired in 1992 and Clara retired from school teaching in 1994.  Darrell lost his battle with cancer in 1997, and Clara moved to Cedar Park the following year.  Clara gave 15 years of volunteer work to Seton Hospital in Austin mainly to “hold babies” in the Neo Natal Intensive Care Unit.  Clara’s childhood during the Great Depression, her exposure to severe poverty in the lives of her relatives in Arkansas, and her young adult experiences through the polio epidemic shaped her life-long concern for disadvantaged children.  Through her years as a schoolteacher her heart ached for her students that had little or no parental love or input.  Her move to Cedar Park was motivated by a desire to pour out her love to her grandchildren, and the aforementioned baby-holding volunteer work.  Clara celebrated her 96^th birthday this year and passed away from a sudden illness on October 2, 2026.  Clara was predeceased by her father, mother, her brother, sister and their spouses, her husband Darrell, and grandchild Benjamin, and survived by three sons, Mark, Karl (Kathleen), Erik (Laura), nine Grandchildren, four Great Grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews. Services will be on November 21, 2026 at Cedar Park First United Methodist Church and streamed online, streaming information can be found on the church’s web page http://www.cpfumc.org