Harriett Elaine (Hadley) Clark

Harriett Elaine Hadley Clark passed away Thursday, February 26, 2026, surrounded by her family.  She was born on March 20, 1941, at the family farm on Lebanon Road, Clarksville, Ohio, the daughter of Herbert and Lucile Fisher Hadley.  She attended Adams Township School, then graduated from Wilmington College, with honors, in 1962 with a degree in biology.

She taught Junior High English and biology at Princeton High School in Evendale, Ohio, then went on to teach biology at Lebanon High School in Lebanon, Ohio. She was an influential and beloved educator throughout her career. While attending Wilmington College, Harriett met Stephen Clark of New Jersey, who she married in 1963. 

In 1981 Harriett became a Naturalist and Environmental Educator at the Cincinnati Nature Center in Milford, Ohio. For eighteen years she led educational programs for teachers, school children and families, and planned and led nature-oriented trips for adults. 

Harriett was renowned for her knowledge of butterflies and moths. She planted a butterfly garden at the Nature Center to demonstrate which plants attract butterflies and the plants their larvae feed on. Her home garden was also recognized as a butterfly habitat and featured in the book Natural Landscaping: Gardening with Nature to Create a Backyard Paradise by Sally Roth.

She has published two children’s books about nature, Nature Rhymes and Giggles and Cheep-Cheep! The Little Bird Who Said His Name.

Bird watching was Harriett’s lifelong hobby, and she enjoyed traveling to add birds to her lengthy Life List of sightings.

After retirement, Harriett moved from her home in West Chester, Ohio to live in the home her grandparents had built on Hadley Road in Clarksville, Ohio, where she enjoyed living in the country close to nature. After being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease she made her home at Ohio Living Cape May in Wilmington. Her final years were spent in long term care with hospice aid.

Harriett is survived by her son, Stephen Geoffrey Clark and his wife Jennifer Clark of Columbus, Ohio; her daughter, Catherine Hadley Clark and her husband Ben Jacobs of Petaluma, California; her sisters, Mary Ellen Krisher of Wilmington, Ohio, Christine (Eugene) Snyder of Wilmington, Ohio, and Anna Jean Hadley of Kettering, Ohio; brother, Herbert J. Hadley of Davenport, Florida; and many nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held at 11:00 AM, Saturday, March 14, 2026 at Springfield Friends Meeting, 121 Todd’s Fork Road, Wilmington, Ohio.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Harriett’s memory may be sent to Springfield Friends Meeting, 121 Todd’s Fork Road, Wilmington, Ohio 45177.

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