To view live stream funeral service visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgomebvT0Jo or www.mogro.co

Funeral services under the care of Mobley-Groesbeck Funeral Service will be held on Friday January 3, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. in the Harvard Avenue Christian Church with Pastor David Emery officiating.  Viewing will be 1 hour before the service.  Burial will be held that afternoon at 1:30 p.m. in the Ft. Gibson National Cemetery with military honors presented by the US Navy.

Arlyn Lynver Wendell Clary was sent to his eternal home on December 20th, 2024, at Hillcrest Medical Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Arlyn is survived by his wife, Wilma; and children: Mike, Bill, Lynne Grigsby, and Stephen. He has nine grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren.

His siblings Oren, Leola "Lee" Cornish, Marvin, and Eldena preceded him in death.

Born 6/11/1932 in Wichita, Kansas, to Alvin Kyle and Selma (Straight) Clary and raised on his parent's dairy farm near South Haven, KS. He started driving the tractor when he was nine and was enlisted to drive his mother into town when he was twelve.

Arlyn graduated from South Haven High School, joined the Navy in 1951, and served in the Korean War aboard the USS Miller destroyer, which circled the globe. He often joked that Uncle Sam paid for him to have a trip around the world. Upon completing his military service, he entered Tarkio College in Missouri, where he met the love of his life, Wilma Fern Brown, whom he asked to marry on his first date. Many months later, he finally persuaded her to say yes, and they were married in his sophomore year in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They will have been married seventy years this June. In the summers, they worked as fire spotters for the National Forest Service and lived in mountain top lookouts in the Salmon National Forest in Idaho. In the fall, he played fullback for the Tarkio College Owls. During one of the practice sessions, a teammate came up over the blocking dummy he was holding and took out his front tooth with an elbow. He wore a single-tooth denture for the rest of his life, except when he took it out to give you a goofy grin. He graduated from Tarkio with a bachelor's degree in biology and a minor in theology. They moved to Sheridan, Missouri, where he served as pastor in the First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), the denomination of church in which he was raised and served throughout his professional career.

Arlyn continued his education at Phillips Seminary in Enid, Oklahoma, while he served as a pastor in Goltry, Oklahoma. He continued to serve as pastor as they moved to Nickerson, KS, and then to Louisburg, Kansas, where he completed his Master of Divinity from St Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri.

During this busy time, Arlyn and Wilma's family grew. Michael was born while they lived in Sheridan, Missouri; Bill was born while in Goltry, Oklahoma; Lynne was born while in Nickerson, Kansas; and Stephen was born while in Louisburg, Kansas. In the middle of all of this, they were involved in an accident that nearly brought the story of their lives to an end as another motorist exiting a rural road onto the highway failed to stop and crashed into them. Wilma's leg was pinned and crushed beneath the car, and Arlyn was thrown from the vehicle and remained in a coma for many days afterward. The children, miraculously, were unharmed, and Arlyn and Wilma eventually fully recovered.

Arlyn went on to serve as pastor in six more churches: Nezperce, Idaho; Moses Lake, Washington; Parsons, Kansas; Fort Morgan, Colorado; Vicksburg, Mississippi; and Sand Springs, Oklahoma. Along the way, he ministered to his congregation, sharing in their joys and losses, comforting the sick, counseling the distraught, and partaking in the fellowship, study, food, and fun that are integral to the life of the church.

Music has always been a big part of Arlyn's life. His voice was deep and sonorous, often wonderfully rising above those singing in the congregation around him. A self-taught violin, piano, mandolin, and harmonica player, he frequently shared his talent. Not only did he play instruments, but he built them! He made numerous dulcimers and even a violin. Arlyn was also an artist at heart. He created many oil paintings, from seascapes to snow-capped mountains, which he gave to friends and family.

During the summer, Arlyn would take his family on long vacations. Backpacking in the Rockies, crabbing and fishing in Pensacola, watching the geysers in Yellowstone, going deep beneath the earth in Carlsbad, wandering under the redwoods in Yosemite, or riding the rides at Disney World. If anyone strayed too far from the group, he could bring them back to him with a shrill two-fingered whistle that could be heard above the crowds or at a great distance in the woods. But the place dearest to Arlyn and Wilma's heart was the Salmon National Forest in Idaho, where they honeymooned in a glass house with a 360-degree view of mountain wilderness (the fire lookout). There, they taught their children to fish for trout, took baths in the natural hot spring, and sat around the fire listening to Arlyn play the harmonica under the stars.

If you knew Arlyn, you knew that he liked to tell stories, but you may not know that he wrote a children's novel, The Boy Who Couldn't Go Home, that he read to his children. He also wrote many poems and always included his latest in his annual Christmas letter. He was particularly proud of a poignant short story about a boy and his elderly neighbor, published by the Christian Board of Publication. In 2008, Arlyn published A Book Of Good Medicine: An Affirmation of Life. The book is split into three parts: affirmational writings, scripture interpretations, and prayer. The book was especially a blessing to his family in the last months of his life as we read prayers that pertained to suffering, caregivers, limited days, and the comfort that lies beyond this life.

In his last hours, knowing the end was near, he requested us to lay our hands on him, and he prayed over us and blessed us—a loving dad and comforting minister even in his last moments.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be given to Harvard Avenue Christian Church Endowment Fund, 5502 S. Harvard Ave., Tulsa, OK 74135, or https://hacctulsa.org/give/