Founding OTC trustee dies

Don Clinkenbeard, a founding member of the Ozarks Technical Community College Board of Trustees, died Dec. 12 in his Springfield home, the day after his 81st birthday.

Funeral services are scheduled 12:30 p.m. Dec. 16 at Greenlawn Funeral Home South, 441 W. Battlefield Road, according to an obituary posted on the funeral home's Web site.

Upon his retirement from the OTC board in October, Clinkenbeard told Springfield Business Journal he had ongoing health concerns since March 1955, when he was involved in an American Airlines plane crash near Springfield.

Clinkenbeard most recently was treasurer of the board and served two terms as president, 1998-2000 and 2006-08, according to an OTC news release.

“From the beginning, Mr. Clinkenbeard has been dedicated to making OTC the best institution it could be,” OTC Board of Trustees President J. Howard Fisk said in the release. “He believed in what OTC does, and he worked to ensure we never lost sight of our mission.”

Clinkenbeard, who was a registered professional engineer with degrees from University of Missouri-Rolla and University of Tulsa, worked for 30 years as a manager of international services for Dayco Products - now Carlisle Power Transmission. He also holds two U.S. patents and has worked with companies in Japan, Denmark, Mexico and Germany to develop products, such as a French and German metric European products handbook, according to his obituary.

He also started his own company, Clinkenbeard Engineering, which helped to design one of the first Walmart stores in the area.

 In lieu of flowers, Clinkenbeard's family is requesting donations be made to the OTC Foundation, the fundraising arm of the college.[[In-content Ad]]