Mary Maxine Clark

Mary Maxine Dowling Clark, a front desk clerk at the East Hampton Library in the 1970s and ’80s, died of cardiac arrest on Aug. 3 in Denver, where she had lived for the last eight years. She was 79 and had been in good health, even having had a swim the day she died.

Known as Maxine, she was born in Brooklyn on Feb. 24, 1937, the daughter of Eddie Dowling and the former Rachel (Ray) Dooley. Her parents were on the stage, which meant the family traveled the country and lived in several places while she was growing up, before settling in Bayside, Queens. Her parents’ careers also prompted her to retain her father’s last name as part of her own.

In the 1940s and ’50s, the Dowlings summered in Southampton and East Hampton, and they moved to Springs permanently in the late 1950s. Ms. Clark continued to spend summers here through the 1960s. Then, in the 1970s, she and John (Jack) Clark, who were married in December of 1958, moved to Springs, where they brought up their children.

Ms. Clark attended Marymount Manhattan College and Rollins College in Florida. She was “a great mother and a warm and charming person,” her family said. She loved nature, particularly birds, as well as gardens and gardening. She also enjoyed books, movies, and politics.

The couple left East Hampton in the late 1980s, moving to Williamstown, Mass., before settling in Florida. Mr. Clark died in September of 2008, and Ms. Clark moved the following year to Denver, where her daughter, Dina Clark, lives. In addition to her daughter, Ms. Clark is survived by a son, Michael Clark of Riverhead, and one grandchild.

She was cremated, and her ashes will be spread in East Hampton at a future date.