PORTLAND (AP) – Ruth Farabee Clark will be remembered for singing and dancing onstage, and for her vivacious personality. For many, though, she’ll be best remembered for her efforts to raise awareness about organ and tissue donation.

Farabee Clark, who died Thursday at 55, twice received kidneys donated by siblings as she battled juvenile diabetes and two heart attacks.

The Durham woman was such a fighter that her death surprised family and friends. They thought she’d win the latest battle like she had so many times during her life.

“We knew intellectually that this would happen some day, but from the time we were little, we assumed it wouldn’t,” said her sister, Rita Bush of Pennsylvania.

Clark struggled with complications from the disease after being diagnosed at age 11.

She had her first kidney transplant in 1979, her sister Judith donating one of her organs.

The transplant saved her life, but Clark would fall ill again in 1993, and underwent triple bypass surgery after two heart attacks. In 1997, she received a second transplant, this time from her brother Allen.

Through all of this, Clark continued to live her life as she chose. She was involved in numerous theater productions and was selected to carry the Olympic torch in 2002.

She also became a passionate advocate for organ and tissue donation, and often spoke to groups about coping with chronic illness.

In an interview with the Portland Press Herald in 1985, Clark told a reporter that speaking about her illnesses was worrisome at first.

“I was worried that people would think I was just looking for attention,” she admitted. “But then I realized that if by talking I can make a difference for someone who’s sick, who thinks there’s nothing left in life … Well, I’ll talk til I’m blue in the face.”

And talk she did, as well as volunteer her time to a number of different organizations. Clark was a founding trustee of the National Kidney Foundation of Maine, serving on its board from 1983 to 1995. She also served as president for the organization from 1990-1993.

“She was dedicated to what she believed in,” said Tammy Atwood, executive director of the foundation. “She was always showing up at the office for a meeting with a smile. We had a meeting just a few weeks ago, and Ruth was, she was just herself.”

Despite her illnesses, Clark was an enthusiastic participant in the U.S. and World Transplant Games, competing in track and field and swimming events against fellow organ recipients. She recruited others to join her.

“She was probably the single most vivacious, engaging personality that I’ve known,” said her husband, Wayne Clark of Durham. “She had a way of reaching into people.”

—

Information from: Portland Press Herald, https://www.pressherald.com

AP-ES-01-28-05 1113EST