Margo Reynolds Clark

A memorial gathering for Margo will be held Saturday, September 27, 2025 at 4:00 PM at First Unitarian Church, 1211 SW Main St., Portland, Oregon 97205.

Margaret Lea was born to Elizabeth and James Reynolds on May 20, 1954, in Lubbock, Texas. She joined older brothers Mikel and Rut and sister Lizann.

A highlight of her childhood, for seven years from ages 9 to 15, was going to Camp Longhorn on the shores of Inks Lake in Texas. Longhorn was a six-week-long camp, and she absolutely adored it. While she was at camp, she took on the name Margo, because Margaret was too long for stitching onto her camp hat. Years later, as a freshman in college when she introduced herself to her classmates, she decided on the spot to say her name was Margo, because, “you know, it seemed a little like camp!”

She also loved going with her family to Red River, New Mexico for Thanksgiving, Christmas and other long weekends. She was a graceful and beautiful skier. She relished the crowded cocktail and dinner gatherings at her family’s place in Red River, where they would open their doors to the current season’s ski instructors and other new friends they’d just met.

She graduated from Coronado High School in 1972. That fall she became an Oregonian when she started her freshman year at Lewis & Clark College. She earned a degree in art history in 1977. During college she spent a year at the University of Richmond near London and logged hundreds of hours at the city’s museums, especially the V&A. Some of you might have heard Margo tell the story about one day in a V&A lecture hall when a young man fell through the roof-glaze ceiling 80 feet directly above Margo, right on top of her. All survived, thank goodness, with Margo walking away with merely a concussion – and one of her best stories.

She loved Portland, especially the jazz scene of the seventies and eighties, and later the abundance of great restaurants. In the early eighties Margo sold ads for Fresh Weekly, an arts and entertainment paper that was part of Willamette Week. She enjoyed meeting – and befriending – her clients, and Margo especially enjoyed her team of ad reps. They had a ball – on and off work – and they believed in their product, a vibrant part of the Portland scene.

Margo met and fell madly in love with Bill Clark, and the two married in 1985. They had son Matt in 1986, and the family moved to their home in Laurelhurst two years later, where they welcomed daughter Jane in 1988. Margo cherished being home with her kids and was grateful she was able to do so. She had Matty B and Janiebelle on the go nearly every day, and when at home they were either reading or playing games. She loved it!

Their Davis Street bungalow would become a hub for their friends, their kids’ friends, and anyone Margo happened to meet. With her contagious laugh, sharp wit, and genuine interest in others, Margo made friends everywhere she went.

In the early nineties Margo and Bill joined the First Unitarian Church in Portland, where Margo served as an usher and as a member of the leadership council, the board of trustees, and the music & arts committee. For 11 years in a row she cooked and delivered two huge pots of homemade soup to the church, enough to feed 60 people, at its Monday night gatherings.

Margo loved throwing dinner parties, and she reveled in setting beautiful tables. She was convinced that’s what we need more of – dinner parties – to cook and gather and dine together, to strengthen our communities. Margo was a consummate hostess: Davis Street has seen annual horse race parties with elaborate decorations, betting frenzies, and general good cheer. Her Easter dinner always featured several strings of Peeps hanging in the front window or dangling from the chandelier above the dinner table.

In 1994, Margo began her career as a preschool teacher, and for nearly 30 years she taught 3- and 4-year-olds. She was loved by the children, their parents, and her colleagues. Margo had a natural skill with kids – talking to even the youngest children with the utmost respect, never talking down to them; she was creative herself and encouraged their creativity, supporting mess-making and noise-making; she would have as much fun as they would, and they could tell! Kids could sense that she was that unusual adult whose unimpeded wonder and curiosity might just match their own.

In the last several years, she cherished spending time with grandkids Juniper and Calvin; daily calls and texts with Lizann; leading her friends and family on unofficial tours of the Japanese Gardens; keeping up with multiple crossword puzzles; gabbing with her wide circle of friends, especially her beloved Sewing Circle, Dabob crew, Scrabble buddies, and book club; seeking out any opportunity she could to hear music in Portland, and even picking up the violin (“Lifelong learner, baby!”).

Margo is survived by husband Bill; son Matthew (Rachel); daughter Jane (Megan); grandkids Calvin and Juniper; sister Lizann (Tom) and brothers Mikel (Candi) and Rut (Sandra); four nieces and one nephew; and many friends who loved her dearly.

If you wish to make a donation in memory of Margo, please consider a donation to the Portland Japanese Garden - a place that brought her much happiness.