Clark Allen Coyne

Clark Allen Coyne passed away unexpectedly in his home in Dickinson, North Dakota, on Sunday, June 10, 2024. Clark, who moved to North Dakota from Ohio to pursue work in the Bakken Oil Fields, found great joy in being a mentor and father. While he enjoyed riding motorcycles, he truly loved being a dad. He also had a wonderful affinity for words and music and wrote his own poetry. Especially as an adolescent, he filled composition notebooks with verse that expressed his own impressions of life.

Clark was born in Lawrence Memorial Hospital in New London, Connecticut on June 10, 1988. He was the second of four children born to Glenn Allen Coyne and Gaylynn Coyne (neé Guthrie). He is survived by his parents in North Carolina, brothers Joshua Adam Coyne (Bethany) in Ohio and Ryan Austin Coyne in North Carolina, as well as sister Sarah Lynn Beard (Nick) in Illinois. Clark was born into a military family, and he learned to love open roads and travel at an early age. He lived most of his adolescence in Cleveland and Medina, Ohio, where he created lasting friendships that continued for the rest of his life. Clark graduated from the Medina County Career Center in 2006. He was passionate about horticulture, and he worked in landscaping until choosing to move westward to North Dakota to work with his cousin, Kyle Guthrie. He was employed as a DIFA Technician for Endurance Lift Solutions and he enjoyed his new line of work, calling family to share his new projects. It provided him an opportunity to creatively solve problems and puzzles, which spoke to Clark’s inquisitive mind.

As mentioned, Clark’s greatest labor of love was being a father. Clark and Dawndee Villars shared a life together for many years with her three children: Aleigha, Buddy, and Lelend. He loved and cared for them as if they were his own. Together, Clark and Dawndee were blessed with a daughter, Kiera Lynn Coyne.

As a father, Clark taught the importance of patience, empathy and self-respect, always encouraging those who relied on him to pursue their gifts. Clark himself was a dreamer, and he wanted his children to cultivate their own ambitions. He was known to present hypothetical scenarios to his children, helping them think through actions and consequences.

Clark loved a good story, and he often became the main character, adventurous enough to make sure the story was interesting, but most importantly, true. The bedrock of his personality was his moral sense. Go through the topsoil, and you will find someone who sought the truth of right and wrong, someone who genuinely lived by their morals, no matter the reality he endured to protect his family from suffering. He was guided by the Holy Spirit to help those who suffered, and his compassion often went beyond human understanding. He identified himself with those in need, molding himself to reach others who felt beyond repair. In the hearts of many, Clark will always be remembered as an earth-bound angel.

Although Clark was not an active member of a church, he made a profession of his Christian faith and was baptized at Cleveland Baptist Church in Ohio while in grammar school. Clark was conscious of his heavenly Creator and supported others in their faith. It seems God intervened in naming Clark Allen, who bears two middle names, from his maternal grandfather and father respectively. He was a true representation of them. As Clark, he could write poignantly and with candor, and as Allen, had a solid moral grounding, becoming the rock many people could stand on for stability and comfort.

Clark’s family would like to express our deepest appreciation to those who loved and cared for him while we were far away. He found friends in all places. He disarmed others with his charming and playful attitude and was fiercely protective and loyal. Clark truly cared for people’s hearts, always looking to shape the foundation for others to thrive. We love him deeply as he loved deeply.

The family suggests memorial donations to the American Horticultural Society, The Sierra Club, or planting a tree in his memory.

God, lover of souls, you hold dear all that you have made. You truly desire your creation to believe upon your son, Jesus Christ, to escape the punishment of our inherited sin. Please comfort those who mourn. Satisfy their longing for the day when all will be made new again in Christ, our risen Lord, who will reconcile all of creation back to you.