Marsha McSpadden Clarke entered eternal rest on January 27, 2026. She was 88 years old. Marsha was born in 1937 in Dublin, Ireland. She was lovingly raised and adored by her “Daddy and Mummy,” Jocelyn and Josephine McSpadden of Cullybackey, Northern Ireland.

Marsha attended Cambridge House Grammar School in Ballymena and Stranmillis Training College in Belfast, graduating with a Teacher’s Certificate in Art Education. She immigrated to the United States with her young family in 1966 and settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. She earned an MA in Art Education from the University of Cincinnati and taught art and art history in the Cincinnati Public School system for over 26 years. She loved teaching and loved her students. She was also very active in the Church of the Redeemer and Christ Church Cathedral.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Jocelyn and Josephine McSpadden, and her husband, Reverend Canon Kenneth E. Clarke.

She is survived by her son, Martin (Tammie) Huggard; daughter, Rachel (Grant) Wetherall; grandchildren: Christopher and Nicholas Huggard, Molly (Tyler) Dickerson; great-grandson, Cooper Dickerson; goddaughter, Donna (Mark) Breitenstein; stepson, James (Spring) Clarke; granddaughters, Jayme and Ashton.

Marsha loved Jesus. She loved her friends (many of them lifelong), both here and in Northern Ireland. She dearly loved her Cincinnati girlfriends, “the girls,” who met regularly for coffee and “a good gossip.” She loved “bouncing around Cincinnati” hanging out at the Bonbonerie, Starbucks, Joseph Beth's bookstore, and the Cincinnati Country Club. Marsha had many interests and talents, but her true passions were teaching, studying her bible, arranging flowers, art, needlework, painting, reading, traveling, the Wall Street Journal, and spending time with people she loved.

We are grateful to the many people who cared for Marsha while she was in their care, most recently, the Village at Mission and Monarch Hospice, Prairie Village, KS. Your loving care of Marsha and our family during this difficult time made a tremendous difference and will not be forgotten. Cremation took place privately in Prairie Village, Kansas.