Barbara Lee Duke Clarke

Barbara Lee Duke Clarke, 93, passed away on January 13, 2025 in her Columbus, Georgia home.

Funeral services will be held 2:00 PM, Friday, January 17, 2025 in the chapel of McMullen Funeral Home and Crematory. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at the funeral home, 3874 Gentian Blvd. Columbus, GA 31907. Interment will be held following the service at Parkhill Cemetery.

She was an avid sports fan and could be found cheering on the Georgia Bulldogs and Atlanta Braves anytime they played. Her favorite activity, however, was cheering on her five grandchildren as they participated or competed in gymnastics, soccer, baseball, softball, tennis, and swimming.

Barbara graduated from Jordan Vocational High School and shortly after joined the navy in 1951 serving ten years with assignments at the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida, and the Pentagon. She was honorably discharged and soon afterward married her high school sweetheart Billy Clarke. After taking several years off to raise her two young children she went back to work with Civil Service on Ft. Benning, GA. In her spare time, she was a poll worker for local, state, and national elections, served on JVHS class reunion committees, and was a member of the “Golden Girls.”

Barbara was preceded in death by her husband of 61 years, Billy Clarke. She is survived by a son, Barrie Clarke (Liz) and a daughter, Claire O’Connor, as well as five grandchildren, Hugh O’Connor (Alex), Clarke O’Connor (Mandy), Bryndon Clarke (Elizabeth), Kaitlyn Clarke, and Sarah Clarke, and four great grandchildren, Hugh and James O’Connor, and Clarke and Jack O’Connor.