Zelma Clarke

Zelma Mae Locke Clarke was born on April 1st,1955, in Rockwood, TN to the late Nola Maxine (Gillespie) Locke and Alfred Malcolm Locke. Zelma spent her childhood in Spring City, TN and Trenton, NJ eventually graduating from North Hills High School in Pittsburgh, PA where she played basketball for two years. After graduation Zelma moved to Atlanta, GA where she worked for Eastern Airlines during that time she was introduced to her future husband, me by a mutual friend, Mark Smith in 1987. Zelma and Kenneth were married July 26, 1989. Theirs was a romance that spanned three states, Georgia, Minnesota, and Alaska and 36 years of marriage. Zelma took great pride in nurturing and loving her family to home cooked meals to her impressive green thumb. She also had the ability to breathe energy into a room with a laugh that spanned octaves and a two-step dance move that she would breeze right through, with a little practice of course.

Through our lives together our family flew various small aircraft around the United States and the Caribbean visiting family and friends. In 2002 our family and my mother traveled to Rome Italy, Paris France and Amsterdam in the Netherlands for our 13th wedding anniversary, and we had a very memorable time.

To cherish her memory, Zelma leaves her adoring husband Kenneth Jerome Clarke and loving son Kenneth Jerome Clarke II (KC), both of Anchorage, Alaska; brothers Alfred (Brenda) Locke of Jackson, TN; Sidney Locke of Spring City, TN; sisters Heather Locke of Jackson, TN; Bernadette (Vincent) Mattox of Lexington, KY; Juliet (Mark) Johnson of Gallatin, TN; Bertha Locke of San Tan Valley, AZ; Uncles Alvas Gillespie of Abilene, TX; Booker Gillespie of Nashville, TN; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

Celebration of Life service will be held Saturday, July 12, 2025 a t12:00 noon First Baptist Church Spring City, Tn with Rev. Benjamin D. Clarke delivering the eulogy and Rev. Dr. Undra Parker officiating. The family will receive friends one hour before the service at the church from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. Interment will follow the service at Euchee Cemetery in Spring City, TN.