Well-known former Vermont journalist Rod Clarke has died at 77.
Clarke led the Montpelier bureau of United Press International in the 1970s and 1980s, when it was the state’s dominant news organization, providing stories to nearly all of Vermont’s newspapers and radio stations.
For many years he was host of VPR’s original call-in program, Switchboard.
Clarke’s contemporaries remember him as a brilliant and unconventional journalist whose skills were more instinctive than learned.
“Rod was rough-hewn,” says retired Burlington Free Press editor and reporter Candace Page, who worked for Clarke for four years at the UPI Bureau in Montpelier.
Clarke never attended college and his journalistic skills were more instinctive than learned.
“He had more natural talent as a reporter than almost anybody I’ve ever worked with or for. He was a natural storyteller and he had an instinct for breaking news and those are two things that make a great reporter,” says Page.
Some stories about Clarke have passed into legend and the details are difficult to verify. Those who knew him in the 1970s recall that before he was bureau chief, UPI sent him on assignment to the Northeast Kingdom commune Earth People’s Park and he didn’t return for several years.
According to Clarke, he and his wife Loretta and their children homesteaded in northern Vermont for a year in 1971.
Clarke was born in Freeport, New York.
He moved to Vermont in 1965 to open a restaurant and motel, recalling years later that his interest in politics and ultimately journalism was sparked by the 1966 gubernatorial race between Phil Hoff and Richard Snelling.
Clarke’s journalism career was only one facet of his life. He like being with children: his own, those of relatives and many foster children.
Harley Davidson motorcycles were another love.
Clarke is survived by six children, 15 grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
He is predeceased by his wife Loretta and son Tony McFarlin.
According to his daughter Lorelei Lissor, Clarke wrote his own obituary, which details a varied and productive life and concludes: “In lieu of flowers, Rod asked his friends to support their local economy at their favorite pub by raising a happy hour toast to him and Loretta as they ride off together again on a new adventure.”
Calling hours are Friday from 1 to 3 p.m. at Guare and Sons Funeral Home in Montpelier. There will be a 3 p.m. service at the funeral home.
