Deanna (and Owen) Clark

Deanna was born in Taunton, Somerset in 1938. She met Owen and they were married in 1960. In March 1960 they were accepted for overseas service with BMS and sailed to Congo in August 1961. Over the next couple of years they learned the French and Kikongo languages and were based in Kimpese up until 1977. They then moved to Kinshasa in 1978 where they remained until 1990. Owen was ensconced in the finance department of the CBFZ, Deanna was involved in organising the Christian Education department working with a team of people. She also taught recorder to the pupils of the Zaire British Association School.

In 1991 when all BMS Zaire personnel had to be evacuated Owen and Deanna were based in Didcot where they worked in the BMS offices helping with the arrangements for the BiCentenary celebrations. When they were able to return to Kinshasa in May 1993 they travelled out to the surrounding villages where the local village chiefs gave them permission to evangelise. BMS gave them a Land Rover which got well-used on very rough and sometimes non-existent routes.

Deanna and Owen retired in 2021 after 40 years in the Congo, and moved to Plymouth whilst they were looking for a property in France. In letters found recently, Deanna had written ‘Strangely, Owen always said we were going for 40 years i.e. a lifetime!’ They moved to France after finding an old farmhouse to live in and they helped the French Baptist pastor of Angers to plant a new church in Cholet. Owen died in 2006 but Deanna remained in France continuing their work developing the church in Cholet. When the French Baptists organised an evangelisation trip to Guadeloupe, Deanna was able to go. She was also able to join a group of women going to Moldova to encourage the women there. She responded to a call to Jamaica where a former Salvation Army friend, was struggling with a new intake of trainee officers from Haîti whose language was French. It occurred to Deanna that as a former teacher of English as a foreign language she could do something to help so off she went.

In 2014, Deanna decided to move back to the UK as there were now grandchildren, Amelie and Charlie and then later Martha and Harry.

Mum became part of the church family at Ferring Baptist Church and made some great friends there, helping support the development of the church. She led her own house group and even in her last few weeks was ensuring that there was someone she approved of to take on leading the group. She helped out with the kids club in the summer holidays and worked with some of the local voluntary organisations, Guild Care and refugees, in particularly working closely with a Syrian family.

Deanna kept in regular contact with former colleagues and friends, attending reunions for Zaire personnel and All Areas and was able to attend the Former Missionaries Association reunion in July 2023. Deanna enjoyed spending time with her family and was known by the three younger ones as ‘Grandma Seaside’. She enjoyed spending her summer holidays with Janet’s family where they did visits to Lyme Regis, Cornwall several times and Dorset.

Deanna became unwell in November 2024 and after several hospital admissions died peacefully on 23 February 2025 in St Barnabas Hospice in Worthing.

We give thanks for Deanna’s life and pray that the Lord will comfort Janet, Jay, their families and friends at this sad time.