L. Floyd Clarke family papers, 1906-2017

Lemuel Floyd Clarke was a prominent zoologist and academic administrator who significantly contributed to the field of zoology and higher education. Born on June 21, 1906, in Newton, Utah, Clarke earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from Utah State Agricultural College in 1927 and 1931, respectively, and received a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1935. He joined the University of Wyoming's zoology faculty in 1935, eventually serving as department head from 1942 to 1968. Clarke founded the Jackson Hole Biological Research Station in Moran, Wyoming, and directed it from 1953 to 1972. In 1968, he became the associate dean of the University of Wyoming College of Health Sciences until his retirement in 1976. Clarke was honored with the George Duke Humphrey Distinguished Faculty Award in 1965 and the Outstanding Former Faculty Award for the College of Arts and Sciences in 1996. He was married to Nina Robinson, with whom he had three children. Lemuel Floyd Clarke passed away on November 12, 1981.

Nina Evelyn Robinson Clarke, born on April 30, 1908, in Laketown, Utah, was an active supporter of her husband’s career and an advocate for education. After attending Brigham Young College, she moved to Laramie, Wyoming, in 1935, where she worked as the librarian at the University of Wyoming's Science Library. In 1993, Nina established the L. Floyd Clarke Fund in Zoology and Physiology at the University of Wyoming. She passed away on March 7, 1998.

Lucille Clarke Dumbrill, born May 16, 1928, in Laketown, Utah, graduated from University High School in Laramie, Wyoming, in 1945. She earned a bachelor's degree in 1949 and a master's degree in 1951, both in mathematics from the University of Wyoming. Lucille and her husband Richard became active in the Wyoming State Historical Society, leading to her long career in historic preservation at UW and statewide. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan appointed her to the President’s Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. She received the UW Alumni Association’s Medallion Service Award in 2001. Lucille married Richard S. Dumbrill on June 20, 1949, and they had two children.

Evelyn Clarke Skordas, born March 2, 1931, in Logan, Utah, attended public schools in Laramie and the University of Wyoming. A talented flute player, she married James Skordas on June 17, 1950, and moved to Rawlins, Wyoming, where they raised four children. Evelyn passed away on March 3, 1972.

David Robinson Clarke, M.D., born November 23, 1943, in Laramie, Wyoming, graduated with honors from the University of Wyoming in 1965 and earned his Doctor of Medicine degree Magna Cum Laude from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in 1969. He specialized in pediatric heart surgery, training in London before returning to Denver to serve as assistant director of the thoracic surgery residency program. He became chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the Health Sciences Center in 1980 and at Children’s Hospital in 1984. He was named a University of Wyoming Distinguished Alumnus in 1985. David married Deborah E. Makush in May 1980.