Benefit held for deceased Clark

By Kevin Dye

Staff Writer

Kevin Dye

A tribute to Missy Clark was set up by co-workers, family and friends in her parking space at the West Jefferson Circle K after she was tragically killed in a car accident last week . A special benefit was held at West Jefferson Hardware on Saturday to assist her family with funeral costs.

Friends and family members of Missy Clark came out Saturday to remember their friend, their co-worker and help her family deal not only with their great loss but with their finances also.

A benefit was set up on the lot between West Jefferson Hardware and C and C Towing Saturday afternoon, as a group of Missy’s friends pulled together the event in a short amount of time. The benefit sold pulled pork sandwiches and other food items to help Missy’s parents with her funeral costs.

Missy Clark was a London resident and a long time employee at the West Jefferson Circle K, where she worked as assistant manager. Clark was tragically killed when a car illegally entered a no-passing zone on state Route 29 and struck Clark’s vehicle head on.

Once the idea was born to have a benefit to help Clark’s parents, a group of dedicated volunteers jumped in on short notice to help the event.

“A gentleman started it and a bunch of us picked up the ball and ran with it,” West Jefferson Hardware owner Carol Beachy said. “The outpouring of support for Missy was great. We raised over $3,000 from the event and combined with donations from the Circle K, a total of $6,700 was raised to help Missy’s parents.”

It was a sadly ironic situation for Beachy and many of the volunteers, because many times they were working side by side with Missy Clark during charitable events to help others as a Circle K representative.

“She and I had built a bond together from working together on so many other events,” Beachy said. “It’s such a tragic, needless loss and she will be missed by all of us.”

The parking space that Missy used at the Circle K parking lot has become a makeshift memorial, with individuals dropping off flowers and candles to honor their departed friend. The cash register that she mostly used at the Circle K had also become a memorial of sorts and the staff had refrained from using it, until Tuesday morning when a mechanical failure finally forced it into duty.

The West Jefferson Circle K made sure that all of its employees had the day off on Tuesday to attend Clark’s funeral and have time to grieve her passing.