Jim Clarke, a teacher and coach for the Los Banos Unified School District for 47 years, passed away peacefully in Los Banos, CA, on March 16, 2021. Jim was born in 1947 in Minnesota, but his family soon relocated to Wisconsin. When Jim was in sixth grade, his family moved to Los Banos where his father Don started teaching at Los Banos High School. After earning his bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin and his master's degree in art from Sacramento State University, Jim began teaching in Los Banos in 1970. He taught special education, math, and primarily art, the subject he was passionate about, teaching most of his years at Los Banos Junior High School. As an art teacher spanning five decades, his students excelled in both two- and three-dimensional media, winning state and regional awards for drawing, sculpture, and ceramics. Jim also coached high school football for 25 years, as well as other sports, including swimming and basketball at the Junior High and High School. He retired in 2017. As an art teacher Jim's particular interest was ceramics, and his ceramics students won many awards. In 2007 Jim applied his interest in ceramics to a community project, "Empty Bowls." Since then, Empty Bowls has been an annual fundraising event in Los Banos to help feed people in need. Jim loved teaching. He was the first teacher to arrive on campus, usually an hour and a half before his first class. He encouraged his students to develop their own talents, to give them a good foundation in knowledge and skills and then enable their own creativity to emerge and flourish. Jim suffered a stroke toward the end of his teaching career, but after a gradual process of rehabilitation, he rebounded. He enjoyed visiting and talking with his family, friends, and former students. Jim is survived by his son Adrian Clarke and his wife Erin of Netherlands and their children Avery and Hayden; and daughter Vanessa Thiercof and her husband Ryan Thiercof of Los Banos and their children Reed, Emry, and Tatum. A Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated for Jim at St. Joseph's Church in Los Banos on Wednesday, March 24, 2021 at 10 a.m.
In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the Jim Clarke Memorial Scholarship with the Los Banos Unified School District.

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