Columbia City High School
Alumni Database


HOME * = Has Email ** = Deceased

Tips for Entering Your Profile 

UPDATE ENTRY UPLOAD PHOTOS ADD A NAME WEBMASTER
MAIN INDEX CLASS OF 1978 CLASS MEMORIES REUNION INFO

 
   
Name: Kelly Fay Gambrell Clark
Spouse:
Address
DECEASED 1999,
Phone Number
Email Address
Personal Website

Class of

1978 Attended from through

Graduated Here?

Yes   

If graduated elsewhere, graduated from:

College Attended:

     
Birthdate: , 1960   
Date of Death: March 4, 1999  
       

Current Occupation:

 

Notes:

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. (AP) - Family, friends and fellow officers gathered for a sunset remembrance of a deputy sheriff who was shot to death while transporting an inmate to prison.

Kelly Fay Clark, 38, died March 4 in her squad car following a struggle for her gun. The prisoner who fled after the shooting was quickly recaptured and charged with murder.

Dozens of law enforcement officers came from across the state for a commemorative gathering at the Truth or Consequences Civic Center at sunset Wednesday. The service of prayers and songs included the song, "The Wind Beneath My Wings."

Clark had lived in Truth or Consequences for the past eight years with her only child, 15year-old Hot Springs High School sophomore Lindsay Hauser. The teen sat among family members and Clark's fiance, state police officer Santiago Hernandez, in the front row during the service.

Clark's body was cremated and the remains were in an urn surr
ounded by flowers and family photographs on a table at the nearly full civic center, which can seat 1,500. The display included a poem by Clark's daughter, beginning, "You're the one, the one for me, the one that cares..."

A triangularly folded American flag, stars up, sat in front of the urn. Flags around town flew at half-staff.

Lt. Gov. Walter Bradley was among people attending the gathering Wednesday. Sierra County Sheriff Terry Byers sat quietly in the back of the room.

Fellow Deputy Peter Bowidowicz recalled many talks with Clark over morning decaf.

"As a deputy she was meticulous, energetic, thorough, but most of all a professional. Her main concern was to give the best law enforcement, no matter the job, the individual, the race, the stature, the significance or the relation.

"Folks, if you got Kelly Clark as an investigator, you got the best," said Bowidowicz.

He added: "What gives me comfort is that Kelly was a Christian, and she w
alked the talk. I know as a community we loved Kelly Clark."

Another memorial and Honor Guard service was set this morning at Hot Springs High School football stadium, followed by a processional through nearby Williamsburg and back through town.

Clark, an Indiana native, began working at the Sierra County jail in September 1990. The following June she was promoted to deputy sheriff, and she was Sierra County's only female on an 11-deputy force.

Clark left Truth or Consequences about 1 p.m. March 20 to drive inmate Michael Archuleta, 20, to the Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Grants. Around 4 p.m., Archuleta somehow got through the sliding Plexiglas divider between the patrol car's front and back seats and got control of Clark's gun, a .40-caliber semiautomatic Glock pistol, state police said.

After the shooting, Archuleta used Clark's gun to commandeer another passing car on Interstate 40, officers said. He was arrested shortly thereafter when
he stopped to make a phone call near a convenience store.

Archuleta had been jailed in Truth or Consequences on charges of receiving a stolen vehicle and assault with a deadly weapon. He now faces an open count of murder, two counts of assault with intent to commit a violent felony, escape and disarming a peace officer.

Obituary also in Columbia City Post March 9, 1999, Pg 5.
 
Last Updated: 09-23-2021 Alumni ID: 17890
Database Footer

Class Coordinators needed.  If your class does not have a Class Coordinator listed with its officers, you can volunteer by clicking here: webmaster@cchsaa.org.  For more info, click here


© 2005 Columbia City High School Alumni Association     This page last modified 09/27/2006