Essie Lee (Pullings) Clark

ESSIE LEE PULLINGS CLARK, 87,

Essie Lee Pullings Clark, 87, departed this life June 3, 2023, in her Florida home. She was born November 19, 1935, to the late James Pullings and Aldonia Swain Pullings in Blitchton, Florida.

Essie received her formal education at Pine Grove School and was a 1955 graduate of Howard High School in Ocala, Florida.

She loved the Lord and accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior at an early age. She became a member of Pine Grove Missionary Baptist Church.

Essie married Robert Leroy Clark on June 12, 1955, at Pine Grove Missionary Baptist Church. They were blessed with nine children. They relocated to Philadelphia where she joined Mount Ephraim Baptist Church, near their home in the Nicetown-Tioga neighborhood.

Essie joined the workforce for a brief time until she became a mother and decided to focus on raising her children, which was one of her primary joys. After returning to Florida in 1987, she renewed her membership to Pine Grove Missionary Baptist Church, where she was an usher, president of the Missionary Society and chairperson of the lunchroom committee.

She prioritized God and family. Her Mount Ephraim Baptist Church family fondly remembered her bringing her children to church lined up like ducks in a row.

Essie enjoyed her work in the church and helping anyone she could. She attended Sunday School and always shared Ephesians 6:1-3, which speaks to honoring your mother and father, so that you may enjoy a long life.

While Essie was fondly called by her loved ones Mom, Mommy, Grandma, Gigi, Auntie, Aunt Essie, Ms. Essie, and Mrs. Clark -- she was also known by many as the “cake lady.”

The joys in her life were loving her family, raising her children, baking cakes, traveling, gardening and being a mother to all. Essie loved helping people and was always willing to lend a helping hand. Her family said Essie made the world a beautiful place with her kindness.

She leaves to cherish her precious memory, four daughters: Omega Clark, Jocelyn Clark, Charmiene Clark Carden (Milton), Castella Clark Farmer (retired Petty Officer 1st Class James); three sons: retired Sgt. 1st Class Totiro Clark (Mercy), Robert L. Clark and Sgt. Darnell L. Clark (Angela); 14 grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, one sister: Carolyn P. Johnson and three brothers: Virgil Pullings, Chester (Mattie) Pullings and retired Maj. Jake (Ilene) Pullings, five sisters-in-law: Alice Boatwright, Carolyn McLaughlin, Barbara Pullings, Joyce Pullings (Riley) Williams, Willie Jean Pullings, Mary Pullings, and a host of great nieces and nephews and friends.

Her daughters all said that, “she strongly believed in treating others the way you want to be treated and staying connected to God and the family.”

She was preceded in death by her husband Robert, daughter Alfreda Patricia Clark and son Harrison Brian Clark; siblings May Pullings, Virge Pullings, Bill Pullings, Elijah Pullings, Curtis Pullings, Leon Pullings and retired Sgt. Donald Pullings.

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