Stanley Roy Lark, 81, former Raton resident of Amarillo, TX died on Wednesday, August 4, 2021.
Memorial services will be held in Raton, NM on Saturday, August 14th at 2:00 PM at the First United Methodist Church, 1501 S Fourth St. Arrangements are by Boxwell Brothers Funeral Directors, 2800 Paramount Blvd. of Amarillo, TX and Yaksich Long Funeral Home, 1310 S 2nd St, of Raton, NM.
Stanley was born July 27, 1940, in Raton, NM to Floyd and Margaret Lark. From an early age, Stan loved music and started playing with the Night Riders when he was 13 (thanks to Aunt Ruth Elaine’s influence). In 1958-1967, he played bass and sang with “The Fireballs”. In 1975, Stan opened a club, The Carriage House, in Raton, NM featuring his band “Willow Springs”. He then moved his band to Las Vegas, NV performing there until he began gold mining. Once he retired from gold mining he rejoined “The Fireballs” and opened Lark’s In and Out Lube in Raton, NM in 1998 and a second location in Trinidad, CO in 1999.
Stan was a very talented musician, learning to play piano at age four, he went on to play guitar, upright bass, and electric bass. Stan also had a beautiful voice, sang in the choir and was choir director for several years at the United Methodist Church in Raton. He went to All State Chorus with his vocals and with brothers Jay and Billy in All State Orchestra. He loved all kinds of music and never passed up an opportunity to share his love for music with those around him. From performing on stage in front of hundreds of people to operating massive mining machinery, Stan met every new adventure head on and with a great attitude. Stan’s favorite horse, Rusty, was his joy and he trained her well. In his eyes, his greatest achievements were his daughters Shannon and Christy and son Robert John (Bobby), who were the light of his life. In 1996 he married his true love, Dawn, and gained four more children who he always loved as his own. He loved to brag on all fifteen of his grandchildren every chance he got. Stan was a wonderful draftsman and loved drawing house plans and creating cartoons. He was extremely creative and loved to work with his hands, many friends and family were blessed with a leather belt or purse made by Stan. He enjoyed traveling and was planning another trip to the Florida Keys right up to the end. Stan loved people and everyone was made to feel special by him.
Stan was preceded in death by his mother and father; son, Bobby; brothers, William Lloyd (Billy), John Thomas, and Floyd James (Jay); and sister, Sharlene Rachel and brother-in-law Dennis (Mike) Morgan.
Survivors include his wife Dawn; siblings Sharon Hayes and husband Stan, of Montrose, CO, Sylvia Clark and husband Dudley, of Clovis, NM, Sue Smith and husband Truman, of Raton, NM, Sheila Gray and husband Dan, of Delta, CO, Shirley Stroik and Paul, of Hatch, NM, and Eddie Lark and wife Leslie, of Raton, NM; sisters-in-law, Marquita Lark, of FL, and Sue Lark, of Goodwell, OK; children, Shannon Moe and husband Al, of Pahoa, HI, Christy Lark, of Scottsdale, AZ, Justin Dauer and wife Barbi, of Panhandle, TX, Chelsea Smith and husband Roy, of Lewellen, NE, Shibil Davis and wife Callie, of Artesia, NM, and Brittany Ingram and husband Daniel, of Carlsbad, NM; Aunt Ruth Elaine Begio, of Raton, NM; six granddaughters; nine grandsons; numerous nieces and nephews; and many special cousins and many loving friends.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Johnson Mesa Church, The Raton Museum, or Norman Petty Studio.
Stan was certainly a great musician, bass player, and a great performer, and all of those things. But Stan was warm, and funny, and seemed like family to any of us that were privileged to call him a friend. Those are the things I will always remember about Stan.
Dear ’58 classmates, family, friends and Fireballs fans;
Even tho I have chosen to no longer be a facebook participant, it still plays an important part in many people’s lives, and I have asked my classmate(s) to help me get this message posted up on facebook, and on email, because I wanted to address the passing of my dear friend, classmate, and work associate as bass player for the Fireballs, ‘gentleman Stan’ Lark.
Stan and I really became well acquainted in high school in chorus class. I don’t have to say many of you knew him to be the most friendly and ‘easy’ person to be around and to know in the band. He was already active in his ‘teen years’ on weekends in Raton as a bass player for a popular local ‘western’ band – Perry Turner and the Drifters. When I started forming the roots of the Fireballs in 1957, of course, I had my cross-hairs set on Stan for our bass player, and thank goodness his finally joining our group completed what we needed as the final piece to make the band complete. As a person, ‘gentleman Stan’ was very cooperative and never complained…always being willing to give or sacrifice whatever it took on his part to press forward whether it was for his music or his person or personal family. I mentioned sacrifice because he did exactly that with his personal car, a ’50 Buick Roadmaster he left behind in Minneapolis, MN., when we went to NYC & Philadelphia for our first American Bandstand appearance and never was able to go back to retrieve it. In my opinion, the most honorable trait Stan lived on display whether in music or for his personal or family life was he always seemed to make the right decision, for the right thing, at the right time and for the right reason. One thing for certain, I am so thankful for his wife, Dawn, who is also the most compassionate and caring person. Who better could sacrifice so much to take care of Stan properly during his last days with us?
The Bible reads in Hebrews 9:27…And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement… This applies to ALL of us, and now we know Aug 4, 2021 was Stan’s appointed time. And so with this I bid my earthly farewell to my precious personal friend, and pray he is in the presence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You and I also have an ‘appointed time’ for each of us that reads or hears this commemoration, and pray each of us will make the proper decision in accepting Christ in our personal lives (Rom. 10: 8 thru13 and John 14:6) in preparation for our individual ‘appointed day’ and see Stan again In eternity for eternity. Sounds like Good News to me and please forward/post this to anyone as you see fit.
Farewell ‘gentleman Stan’ and Blessings to you all.
George Tomsco – Fireballs
As a Brit who used to attend the Clovis Music Festival each September I am so sorry to hear that Stan Lark has passed. I have all his records. He was such a lovely guy and true gentleman. He always had time for the fans whenever I saw him at Clovis and was a lively character on stage, still moving and grooving like when they first started out – with some crazy moves whilst playing that big bass guitar. My thoughts are with his family and George Tomsco. Stan Lark RIP.
This message comes with heartfelt condolences for you all.
Stan was a good person and also talented. I so loved seeing him
on stage as he had such a relaxed, warm presence.
Grieving is hard take care of yourselves. And enjoy talking about all the fun times you had together.
Cheryl Gay Gatti