Caroline "Cooky" Clark

Caroline was born November 24, 1935, in Chicago, Illinois, to Julia Emma Makela and Arthur John Sirvio.  She passed away at the age of 83 on August 28, 2019, in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Caroline’s uncle dubbed her Cooky after a popular 1935 jazz song “Lookie, Lookie, Here Comes Cookie.”  Cooky grew up on a small farm in northern Minnesota.  There was no one to play with, so she would follow the cows around.  To her parents’ dismay, she would even follow them across the river where there was known to be quicksand, but she insisted she would be safe because the cows knew where to walk. Her love of Holsteins made way for a lifelong collection of Holstein memorabilia. She also had an extensive collection of plates from places that she had been. She attended the two-room Prairie Lake School through the eighth grade and graduated from Floodwood High School in 1953.

After graduation, her and a friend went to work in Minneapolis where she met and married Kenneth Wilford Hjelt in 1955. To that union were born three children: Carol, Jim, and Teri.  Kenny was career Navy, and they moved frequently living in eight different states. After Kenny passed away, she moved to Riverton, Wyoming, where she lived for 40 years.  In 1975, she married Bob Clark.  Her last move was to Menan, Idaho, where she lived with her son-in-law, Randy Belcher.

Cooky worked as a school secretary, a TSA officer, and a Wal-Mart associate.  She enjoyed cross stitch embroidery and made numerous tablecloths, bedspreads, pillowcases, and wall hangings for her family.  She made sure that the stitches were as nice on the backside as they were on the front.  She was also known for making the very best bread and butter pickles and fried chicken for which she wouldn’t share the recipe.  She always had a stash of mini Milky Way bars, but the rule was “You can only have one!”

Cooky was predeceased by her parents; husbands, Kenny Hjelt and Bob Clark; son, Jim Hjelt; and daughter, Teri Belcher.

She is survived by a daughter, Carol Boland of Olatahe, Kansas; son-in-law, Randy Belcher of Menan, Idaho; granddaughters, Misti (Jeremy) Osbern of Lawrence, Kansas, Jenni (Robert Paulson) Boland of St. Charles, Illinois, Sarah (Patrick) Alberico of Shawnee, Kansas, and Karrisa (Michael Dedman) Hjelt of Las Vegas, Nevada; grandsons, Kenny (Kitra Danley) Belcher of Mitchell, Nebraska, and Rodney (Charli Ferguson) Belcher of Idaho Falls, Idaho; great-grandchildren, Alexis, Joseph, and Collin Bartkowski; Lucy Alberico; Jordyn and Ryder Dedman; Roman Osbern; Kaylee Danley; and Hayden, Jackson, and Liam Belcher; sisters, Jan Saban of Beaverton, Oregon, and Laura (Barry) Erickson of Maplewood, Minnesota; and brother, Gordon (Linda) Sirvio of Deer River, Minnesota.

Services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 7, 2019, at Wood Funeral Home (273 N. Ridge Avenue) with Pastor Steven Weems officiating.