William Robert Clark

William R. "Bill" Clark Jr., age 79, of Beebe left us on Dec. 31, 2011. Born to a minister of the church of Christ in Kansas City, Mo., Bill attended Harding University, followed by Eastern New Mexico University for a master's degree. Bill served in the military special forces during the Korean Conflict. He then taught speech, music and Bible in high schools and served as principal before joining his brother in business in the northwest. He reared his family in the state of Washington, serving as elder and minister of the Lord's church. There he helped many young people, including some from the Middle East, to find the Lord and to further their educations. While serving as a minister in Los Angeles with his own children in the university, he was asked to teach in Israel and, subsequently, became a missionary there for 17 years. He is affectionately remembered in Israel as ‘The Lion', and was often asked when he was returning "home" (to Israel). In 1999, he returned to the states to serve as senior minister and as a shepherd for his sponsoring congregation, Springfield Church of Christ in Virginia. Bill was minister there until health issues limited him; he retired in August of 2003, to Beebe, Ark., just south of Harding University, where he continued to teach and to write. While in Israel, Bill researched Greek plus 20 versions of the New Testament in order to write clear, ‘newspaper vocabulary' translation - The Galilee Translation Project New Covenant. This was then translated into Arabic. The publications of both the English GTP and the Arabic GTP were done in East Jerusalem, and distributions were made throughout Israel and Palestine as well as parts of the U.S. Currently, this is available on web sites of the Internet. Bill was preceded in death by his beloved first wife, Donnie Clark and a dear grandson, Joseph Mouawad. He will be held in the memories of his wife, Joan; daughters, Susan (Warren Ray) Grogan, Virginia (Eddie) Mouawad, and Olla (Khantous) Hamilton; sons, David (Linda), Robert, Daniel (Barbara), and Mishel Munayyer; grandsons, Davis Beasley, Aaron, Alec and Ian Clark and Zackary and Clinton Mouawad; granddaughters, Diana (Matt) Wisdom, Julie (Andy) Jones, Annie Beasley, Mary Catherine (Jon) Schallert, Adrienne (Tony) French, and Carmen, Kristina, Brittany, and Nicole Clark; nine great-grandchildren; sisters, Betty Goyne and Dee (Carlton) Burke and a brother, Lewis Clark. Family will receive friends on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2011 from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. at Westbrook Funeral Home in Beebe. Funeral services will be at Westbrook Funeral Home at 10 a.m. Wednesday with burial in Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery, North Little Rock. www.westbrookfuneralhome.com.