Obituary of Dolores Wueste Clark

Dolores Wueste Clark passed away surrounded by loved ones on January 13, 2019, after battling dementia for several years and experiencing a recent stroke. Dolores was an amazing woman who will be greatly missed!Dolores was born January 2, 1931, in San Antonio, Texas, to Gus and Ann Wueste. She was a loving and giving daughter, wife, mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend. She leaves a legacy of love, family, and a lifetime of great memories. Throughout the course of her life, Mom accomplished many things and had a tremendous impact on many people. First and foremost, Mom lived for her children and family. They were her greatest joy and life’s work as she also balanced a career in nursing. Mom graduated from Incarnate Word with a BSN in 1954 and married James (Jim) J. Clark, Jr. on November 20, 1954. Mom began her nursing career as a staff nurse in the San Antonio Public Health Department, and after moving to Ft. Worth, she worked at St. Joseph’s hospital as a staff nurse in Labor and Delivery. Jim and Dolores started their family in 1956 with the birth of their first son, Dan, followed two years later by John, the next year Pat and the following year a daughter Mary. As you can imagine, she had her hands full with raising four children, so Dolores stepped away from nursing to be a full-time mom. Being staunch Catholics and believing that all children are a gift from God, Jim and Dolores had four more daughters, Kit, Jeanette, Nancy and Anita, between 1963 and 1967. The four “little girls” rounded out the family of ten! Mom was a great mom, and an excellent cook and baker. She prepared wonderful and nutritious meals every day, and even made our dad a weekly homemade pie!Jim and Dolores valued education for themselves and their children. Mom role-modeled hard work, and dedication to family and school. She decided to go back to school when her youngest child started kindergarten. Mom studied at night and during any free moment, and balanced being a student, wife, and mother. During this time, she also worked as the school nurse at St. Andrew Catholic School where her children attended. She graduated with a Master’s Degree in nursing from Texas Woman’s University in 1975. Mom was a trailblazer in nursing. She was one of the first nurse practitioners in the State of Texas upon receiving her certificate as Family Nurse Practitioner in 1978. Mom worked as a nurse practitioner in several clinical settings and began teaching at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) School of Nursing in 1981. Pediatrics and Women’s Health were a great interest and in 1988, she specialized and became a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. In addition to her clinical work and teaching, Mom became very active in the Natural Family Planning movement, serving as counselor, teacher, and Director for Natural Family Planning (NFP) Ft. Worth. She loved helping couples with fertility issues achieve pregnancies through teaching the NFP method. Mom continued to balance raising her family while working at UTA in a variety of roles and as a nurse practitioner in the clinical setting.Dolores was a beloved teacher and her physical assessment skills were remarkable. She enjoyed sharing her knowledge and skills in this area, offering Physical Assessment Classes through UTA to nurses from all over the metroplex. Among other achievements, Mom is credited with helping to start the RN to BSN program at UTA and countless nurses continue to benefit from this innovative program, which was designed to accelerate the curriculum path from an Associate Degree in Nursing to a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing. Over the course of her career, Mom received many awards, including being recognized with the distinguished Great 100 Nurse award in 1992. Mom received funding to conduct numerous research studies, and many of her published articles and research contributions are still being used in nursing textbooks today. Mom retired after twenty-five years at UTA and continued her work as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner until the age of eighty.While her work and education successes were many, Mom’s greatest joy came from her family, and especially her grandchildren. She hosted weekly Sunday family dinners for anyone who wanted to come. This family time was special and created a strong family bond that the grandkids will always fondly remember. Aside from work and family commitments, mom also enjoyed singing in St. Andrew Catholic Church choir and playing bridge with dear friends.The family would like to thank Dana Parker who helped care for Dolores for four years, which helped mom remain independent until September of this year. We would also like to thank the nursing staff in the Colorado House at James L. West for their loving and compassionate care while mom was there until her death. We appreciate the many visits from friends who continued to visit Mom as their visits meant the world to her.Dolores was preceded in death by her husband, Jim Clark, daughter, Nancy Clark Coolbaugh, and her brothers Andrew and Gus Wueste. We are comforted in knowing they are together again in the kingdom of Heaven with God our Father.She is survived by her children, Dan (Kathy), John (Rebecca), Pat (Carrie), Mary (Paul), Kit (Mike), Jeanette (Al), Anita (Bobby), and son-in-law (Joel), brother, Matt (Marcella), sister-in-law, Cely Wueste, aunt (Mary Rieber), brother-in-law (Leonard), twenty grandchildren, two great-granddaughters and a great-grandson (due in March), numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.