Canson, Clarence Barnard
June 22, 1941 - May 2, 2010
Resident of El Sobrante, CA
Dr. Clarence B. Canson, an 18 year resident of El Sobrante, passed away at home at age 68 from complications of Sarcoidosis, a disease with which he was diagnosed some 43 years ago.
Born and raised in Sacramento, CA, Clarence was the son of the late Attorney Clarence B. Canson and Virna Mae Canson (nee Dobson).
After graduating from C.K. McClatchy High School in 1959, Clarence matriculated at Morgan State College (now University) in Baltimore, MD. It was there that he met his wife Patricia (Pat) Byrd Smith of Philadelphia. Clarence and Pat married in 1965, and lived a carefree year in New York City before moving to Washington D.C. where Clarence attended Howard University College of Medicine, graduating in 1970. They then moved to the ''Windy City'', Chicago, IL, where Clarence completed his internship and residency in Diagnostic Radiology at Northwestern University's Passavant Memorial Hospital.
His training completed, Clarence and Pat chose the Bay Area for their home, residing in San Francisco for 12 years. Clarence joined the Public Health Service and later, the Kaiser Permanente Group in Vallejo, CA where he remained until his retirement in 2005.
After the practice of medicine, Clarence's greatest passion was music, specifically Modern and Latin Jazz and Afro Cuban. He spent many hours listening to his vast CD collection, and attending jazz concerts (he loved the jazz club, Yoshi's, at Oakland's Jack London Square). Conga drumming was another passion; Clarence took lessons for several years from professional ''Conguero'', Jesus Diaz. Clarence and Pat were yearly attendees at the Monterey, Russian River and San Jose Jazz Festivals and enjoyed festivals in Canada and Europe as well. Pat was a 30 year TWA flight attendant, so they were able to take advantage of her travel benefits.
Clarence had many, many friends. He met regularly with his high school friends in Sacramento, had once a year reunions with his medical school classmates and his beloved Kappa Alpha Psi brothers, and rarely missed his and Pat's yearly Morgan State homecoming weekends.
Clarence leaves behind his wife of 44 years, Pat, of El Sobrante; sister, Faythe Canson, and her children, Phillip and Maya Canson, all of Pittsboro, NC; cousin, Dr. Patricia Canson, and husband, Dr. Stanford Griffith, of Baldwin NY; their son, Aurin Canson, of El Sobrante, CA; cousin, Richard Dobson and wife, Christine, of Sacramento, CA; cousin, Rheanette Dobson-Lea, of Victorville, CA; cousin, Gloria Canson Johnson, of Sacramento, and a host of long time family friends.
Family and friends are invited to a memorial service at 1 PM on Saturday, June 26, 2010 at Morgan Jones Funeral Home, 4200 Broadway, Sacramento, CA.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Clarence's name to Berkeley High School Jazz Band, c/o Scott Dailey, Director, 1980 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94704 (acct# 424) OR Morgan State University Foundation, 1700 E. Cold Spring Lane, Truth Hall, Rm 201, Baltimore, MD 21251. Please write ''in memory of Dr. Clarence Canson'' in the memo line.
Published in The Sacramento Bee on June 13, 2010