Sand Springs titan Opal Bennefield Clark passes at 105 years old

Sandite Pride staff members Scott Emigh and Morgan Miller with Opal Bennefield Clark.

Opal Bennefield Clark was the last human connection Sand Springs had with its founding father, and the 105-year-old sister to the City passed from this life into the next Friday morning.

Clark was one of the earliest residents at the Sand Springs Widow's Colony founded by Charles Page. Born on May 20, 1912, Clark never got to know her father, who was killed by a boar two months before her birth. The City of Sand Springs was incorporated that same year, and Clark arrived in 1916.

Clark found a father figure in "Daddy Page," whose life she preserved in A Fool's Enterprise. The biography was published in 1988 and was integral in telling the story of Sand Springs. She also published children's book Leelore's Unusual Choir, which she wrote and illustrated. 

Clark was married to Jimmy Clark for 57 years till his passing in 1989. She found love again in an assisted living facility, and was married to Paul Moss from 2012 till his death in 2014. She leaves behind one daughter, four granddaughters, and two great-grandsons. 

Services will be held at Dillon Marler Dighton Legacy Chapel in Woodland Memorial Park cemetery Thursday, April 19, 2018 at 2:00 p.m. in Sand Springs.