A celebration of life for Nancy Randall Clark, a Freeport woman who did anything and everything she could for her town and her state, will be held on Saturday, Jan. 30, at her beloved place of worship, the South Freeport Congregational Church. The service will begin at 11 a.m.

Clark, the first female Maine Senate majority leader and a tireless worker in several Freeport civic groups, died late in the night of Dec. 28, at her South Freeport home. She was 77.

The Rev. David Bowling of the South Freeport Congregational Church said that Clark’s health had been in a gradual decline.

“She had just traveled to Atlanta six months ago for a Grange conference,” Bowling said. “She held just about every position at the church. She was a force of nature.”

Clark, who taught at Freeport High School, was past president of the Freeport Woman’s Club, and held the position of Grange master at the Harraseeket Grange, where she led a drive to restore the building. She also belonged to the Freeport Elders Association, was a former board member of Freeport Community Services, a member of the Eastern Star and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Clark was a state legislator from 1972 to 1992. A Democrat, she was elected state Senate majority leader in 1991.

Bowling said that Clark had a take-charge attitude.

“When something was going awry in the church, she would just tell people to move on and get over it,” he said. “She was a problem-solver.”

Bowling said that a committal service for Clark will be held in the spring, at the South Freeport Cemetery.

Tamantha Wilson, who lived with Clark for 30 years and was her caretaker, was a former student of Clark’s, as well. Wilson and others who knew Clark described her as a “no-nonsense” person who believed in getting things done.

“You learned so much from her,” Wilson said. “You were there to learn. She was old-school. I just feel so blessed that she was part of my life. She was like my mom. She was my best friend. I feel so blessed that she was part of my life.”

Fellow church members Sue Ann Randall and David Webster both recalled a Clark from the days she was running for the Maine House of Representatives, and later the state Senate.

“She passed out Clark bars while campaigning,” said Randall, no relation to Clark. “That was her signature while she was out campaigning.”

Webster, who served in the House from 2005-2012, had just moved to Freeport at the time.

“Somewhere in a corner of their homes, people in Maine probably still have one of those Clark bars,” Webster said.

Webster, speaking from his house boat in Florida, said that he assisted Clark with those early campaigns.

“She broke that glass ceiling as the first woman Senate majority leader,” he said. “There was a lot of resistance at the time. She was a moving force in the House before going to the Senate. She assisted me in my first campaigns. She would drive me around and she knew everything. She knew where every dog came from.”

Webster recalled Clark’s speech during Freeport High School graduation ceremonies two years ago, when she presented the annual scholarship on behalf of the Freeport Woman’s Club.

“She turned around to these young kids who were graduating and said, ‘You’re now alumni. You’re one of us. You’re now expected to attend alumni functions.”

Randall said that Clark taught her children. Clark also was behind the scenes when Freeport Community Services got off the ground 42 years ago, Randall said.

“She loved being busy,” Randall said. “She was a church deacon for years, same as I was, so we’ve done a lot of things together. I don’t know how she did it all.”

Nancy Randall Clark, who died Dec. 28, was quite at home in the Harraseeket Grange in Freeport, which she helped to restore two years ago.