Col. Kevin Patrick Clearkin, M.D.

SHREVEPORT, LA - A Mass of Christian Burial for Col. Kevin Patrick Clearkin, M.D., will be held at St. Joseph Catholic Church, 211 Atlantic Avenue, Shreveport, LA on Saturday, September 20, 2014 at 10:30 a.m. Interment will follow at Forest Park Cemetery, St. Vincent Avenue with full military honors. Officiating will be Father Carl Daigle and Con-celebrant Father Michael Thang'wa. Visitation will be held at Rose-Neath Marshall St. from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Friday, September 19, 2014. Dr. Clearkin was born December 21, 1921, in Nairobi, Kenya, where his father was a pathologist with the Colonial Medical Service in British East Africa. Kevin and his twin brother, Jimmy, attended boarding schools in Ireland and the Channel Islands, and then studied at the University of the West Indies in Guyana (a branch of the University of London). Kevin returned to Belfast, Ireland, to attend medical school at Queens College. After completing his residency in pathology he traveled to Jamaica to teach pathology at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica and later at another branch of the University in the Bahamas. He then accepted a job as a staff pathologist at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, and while there he was recruited by and joined the U.S. Army after becoming a United States Citizen. He was stationed at Ft. Bragg, NC, where he met and married Fayetteville, NC native Flora Irene \"Rene\" McKethan in 1957. After a tour of Europe and the Middle East they were stationed in Germany, then Colorado Springs where their daughters Maureen & Nancy were born, then San Antonio, Okinawa, San Francisco, Atlanta, Tokyo and Washington, D.C. Col. Clearkin received numerous commendations and medals including the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster during his 20 years serving his adopted country. After serving as Chief of Pathology at the AFIP (Armed Forces Institute of Pathology) in Washington D.C., he retired from the Army and moved his family to Co. Clare, Ireland. Dr. Clearkin led his family to Shreveport in 1976 when he was asked to be Medical Director of the Military Entrance Processing Station. He received numerous awards for excellence for his work at MEPS throughout his many years there. He was a devout member of St. Joseph Catholic Church where he served as a Lay Eucharistic Minister (EMHC) and, after his retirement, attended mass daily. His faith was deep and he lived his life to serve his Lord, his country, his family, and, really, everyone he encountered. Dr. Clearkin was a doting and devoted husband, father and grandfather. He was an avid reader and historian and loved telling stories, discussing politics, religion and science. He regularly wrote letters to the editor espousing his conservative views. He was a true intellectual, yet was humble, generous, kind and funny. When asked how he was doing, his stock response to deflect attention from himself was, "The sun is shining, the birds are singing, all is well\". Dr. Clearkin was preceded in death by his parents, Dr. and Mrs. Peter Alphonsus Clearkin, his brothers, Dr. James Clearkin, Dr. Peter Clearkin, and Ronald Clearkin. He is survived by his wife, Flora McKethan Clearkin, and two daughters; Maureen Gamble and her husband, Keith Gamble, and Dr. Nancy Germany Eberhardt and her husband, Terry Eberhardt; grandchildren, Walker Gamble, Caroline and Patrick Germany, Maddison and Morgan Eberhardt and great-grandson Grayson Eberhardt. In lieu of flowers the family suggests memorial donations be made to St. Joseph Catholic Church, 211 Atlantic Ave., Shreveport, LA 71105 or Messianic Jewish Alliance of America-Restoration of Israel, P.O. Box 274, Springfield, PA 19064. Our sweet Irish leprechaun has come to the pot of gold at the end of his rainbow... \"All is well\".