James Norman Clark

James "Jim" Norman Clark, a.k.a. "Gramps", 92, of Wichita, Kansas passed away on July 20th, 2026. Jim was born in Ash Grove, Missouri on June 29,1934. He was the only child born to Thurman and Inga Clark.

Jim graduated from Wichita East High in 1952.

Throughout his life, Jim had a few different jobs including as “paper boy” at 12 years old for the Wichita Eagle Beacon, later working a couple of years as a electrical engineer in his early 20’s, Chief Engineer and designer at Wilbeck Agriculture, which he thoroughly enjoyed, a few years at Boeing and Cessna. Jim landed at Learjet, where he was a Aviation Engineer for over 37 years, spending his time between Wichita, Kansas, Tucson Arizona and Ireland for a short time. He enjoyed his work and the challenging atmosphere it created. He was a great teacher and mentor to many people that still remember and talk about him to this day. He retired in 1997.

Jim had many interests and hobbies including traveling, collecting Hot Wheels cars (and real ones), gardening and spending time with his large family, which included his kids, grandkids, great grandkids and great great grandkids. He is loved by all of them and made a great impact on all their lives.

Jim has traveled all over the world and even had the opportunity to live in England for several months just after he retired, which he enjoyed very much. One of his favorite places to visit was Mustang Island in the Gulf which he did often. If you ever got the opportunity to travel with him it was always a great time and you were sure to see some great places. He had a knack for knowing the good hidden spots not many people would know about. He always enjoyed finding good places to eat; his favorite being spicy Mexican food. Jim also had a Hot Wheels collection that could fill most people's homes, it filled his. He would know all the special cars to get, but he usually would just get them all. He was a car guy at heart enjoying fun cars to drive. His favorite was a Corvette, which he had the opportunity to own a few of them throughout life. He could get in and out of those cars like a young man all the way up to the week he passed away at 92. He was an avid gardener, which he passed down to many of his family members. He enjoyed that very much. He could grow anything, but his favorite was hot peppers; with Habanero being his favorite. He enjoyed cycling and competed in several races, with most of them being over a 100 miles long.

Jim had four kids, Greg, Sandy, Scott, and Susan, that he loved very much and was always there to help out, give advice or just be a listening ear, if need be. He was a great cook, which he passed down to Gregory and Sandra. They often talk about who was the better cook between them all. There was never a winner named, but he would say it’d be close and Greg or Sandy would probably win. Scott inherited Jim's love for cars, particularly Corvette's. They both have owned them throughout the years. He took several painting classes with Susan, which he loved very much. They were great painters and have lots of paintings on canvases between the two of them over the decades.

He is preceded in death by wife, Sheryl Clark; daughter, Sandra DeFever; daughter-in-law, Diana Clark; and a grandson, Jeffery DeFever.

Jim is survived by children Greg and wife, Karen Clark, Scott Clark, and Susan and husband, Ryan Edwards.

He is also survived by 13 grandkids, 30 great grandkids, and 10 great great grandkids. They all loved him very much and always look forward to time with "Gramps".

He will be missed by so many people.

A Celebration of Life service will be at 1:00 P.M., Thursday, July 30, 2026, at DeVorss Flanagan-Hunt Mortuary, 201 S. Hydraulic St., Wichita.