Obituary of Clark John Hamkins

Clark John Hamkins, 82 passed away on May 11, 2013 at his home in Brunswick after being on and off Hospice care for congestive heart and kidney failure since December, 2008. He was born on June 11, 1930 and raised in Kenosha, WI, son of the late John and Ella (Henkel) Hamkins. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Monica (Rick) Hamkins, 6 children and 13 grandchildren. Son Christopher and his children Simon, Cassandra, Lilith, and Phoebe of Worms, Germany; daughter SuEllen, her husband Jay Indik, and children Tiama and Frances of Northampton, MA; son Eric, his wife Mary Hamkins, and children Ryan and Sean of Waukesha, WI; daughter Melissa and her wife Meredith Hunt of Bowdoin, ME; son Joel, his wife Barbara Montero, and their children Horatio and Hypatia of New York City; and son Jon, his wife Meera Srinivasan, and their children Kiran, Jaya and Easan of La Crescenta, CA. He is also survived by his brother Leland and his wife Carolyn of Pinckney, MI, and by nephews and nieces, other relatives and friends. His sister, Myrna Hamkins predeceased him. He attended Marquette University, graduating in 1968 with a BS in Mechanical Engineering, while working full time and going to school in the evenings for many years. He worked at Walker Mfg. in Racine, WI and Jackson, MI for 25 years and then worked at Kuhlman Electric Co. in Versailles, KY for 8 years before his retirement. For most of those years he worked in manufacturing research and development of those companies. He and his family camped and traveled and after his retirement he and his wife continued to camp and travel. He thoroughly enjoyed his retirement. He often said he didn’t know how he had time to go to work before he was retired since he was so busy in retirement. He enjoyed seeing and doing new things. He was an avid reader and was extremely interested in and did research in electro-magnetism. He was very creative with wood. He built many pieces of furniture for his family and when his grandchildren arrived he made each family a high chair as well as toy kitchens, doll beds and many other smaller things for them. Each year he designed and created a wooden ornament for each grandchild and often some other wooden item for his children as well. The last large thing he built was a dulcimer. When his grandchildren were young they delighted in his creative way of telling fairy tales and other stories. He and Monica moved to Brunswick in 2005 to be near their daughter, Melissa. He and Monica observed their 55th wedding anniversary the day before he died. Memorial Services will be on July 13th. Memorials can be sent to: Unitarian Universalist Church of Brunswick Building Fund, P.O. Box 129, Brunswick, ME 04011, CHANS Hospice, 60 Baribeau Dr., Brunswick, ME 04011, or Curtis Memorial Library book fund, 23 Pleasant St., Brunswick, ME 04011.