ROCKLAND — Doris Kathleen ‘Dodie’ Clarke passed away peacefully April 14, 2025 after a brief illness.

Born in Rockland in 1940, she was the 6th child of Robert and Olive Dow. She grew up on the Lighthouse Road in Owls Head and loved to talk about her childhood exploits with lifelong friends Wayne Lindsey and the lighthouse keeper’s daughter, Marla Haskins.

Dodie was in the last class to attend the one-room schoolhouse at Timber Hill and the first to go to the new Owls Head Central School, before attending Rockland District High School. After high school she married Donald Williams Sr. and they had four children together.

After the untimely death of her first husband in 1965, who along with several other local men were lost at sea on the F/V Snoopy, she became a widow at age 25. She was later married for 10 years to Jim Alley before finding her lifelong companion, Harold Clarke.

Dodie worked for 30 years as a waitress, starting at Newberts restaurant in Rockland. She also worked at the Chuck Wagon, Samoset Resort, and The Wayfarer East, much of that time at breakfast, and she knew everyone and knew how you liked your coffee; she also taught her children to be courteous to their wait-person. After hanging up her waitress apron she and Harold achieved their lifelong dream and opened the Lilac Farm Antiques and Used Furniture Shop. Dodie thrived at this because it combined her two favorite things: antiques and people, and she spent her days surrounded by both and made many, many new friends. When the demands of constantly moving heavy furniture became too much they sold the shop and she went to work at the Antiques Market Place in Rockland, again surrounded by antiques and new and old friends, until she finally retired at 81 years old.

Dodie was kind, she had a life filled with both heartache and joy but she always looked for the good in everyone. She was a ferociously good cook; for Dodie, food equaled love and she wanted you to know that she loved you lots. So she loaded your plate, slathered it with butter, drowned it in gravy, and set it in front of you telling you that it “did not come out very good” but “there’s plenty more”. Everyone wanted to be invited when they knew that she had made the chowder or fried the chicken. One of her favorite things to do was to meet with the “card girls” every Tuesday at her sister Syb’s house. She also enjoyed watching her great-granddaughter Everly on Sunday mornings. Another one of Dodie’s favorite things to do was for her and Harold to go to the Waterfront Restaurant in Camden, sit at the bar and order an appetizer to share, and have a few drinks and talk to people. Dodie liked people and people liked her, she was well loved by her community. She loved her husband, her family, and her friends; she wanted people to be happy and did her part to make them be. Dodie had a very quick and dry wit, making her a favorite at any and all social occasions. She will be lovingly remembered and sadly missed by all.

Dodie was pre-deceased by siblings from the Dow family, Bobby, Barbara, Steven and David; her husbands Donald Williams and Jim Alley; and her grandson Daniel Williams.

She is survived by her siblings Jim Dow, Danny Dow, Sylvia Smith, Jane Thorndike and all of their children and grandchildren; her husband of 45 years Harold Clarke; their children Donald Williams Jr., Sharon Setz, Janet Williams, Michael Williams, and step children Wendy Van Dyne, and Harold Clarke Jr.; her grandchildren Donald Williams III, Cassidy Keene, Taryn Williams, and Morgan Williams; and great-grandchildren Noah and Patrick Keene, Dannaleigh Walsh, and Everly Williams.

Dodie was kind, she had a life filled with both heartache and joy but she always looked for the good in everyone. She was a ferociously good cook; for Dodie, food equaled love and she wanted you to know that she loved you lots. So she loaded your plate, slathered it with butter, drowned it in gravy, and set it in front of you telling you that it “did not come out very good” but “there’s plenty more”. Everyone wanted to be invited when they knew that she had made the chowder or fried the chicken. But Dodie’s favorite thing to do was for her and Harold to go to the Waterfront Restaurant in Camden, sit at the bar and order an appetizer to share, and have a few drinks and talk to people. Dodie liked people and people liked her. She loved her husband, her family, and her friends; she wanted people to be happy and did her part to make them be. She will be lovingly remembered and sadly missed by all.

Dodie is pre-deceased by two husbands, Donald Williams and Jim Alley, and her grandson Daniel Williams.

A service will be held Saturday, May 3, 2025, at 2 p.m., at Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock Street, Rockland. A reception will follow at the Rockland Golf Course.

To share a memory or condolence with Dodie’s family, please visit their Book of Memories at www.bchfh.com.