Janis Clements, 89, dies

Sacramento, CA — Janis Clements, 89, a longtime Sacramento, Calif., resident and mother to California based trainer Robin Clements, died Aug. 13, 2019, due to complications from Alzheimer’s.

Born in North Dakota, she and her family moved to Newton, Iowa, after losing their farm in the Great Depression. Her grandfather, an immigrant from Germany, had built several homes for his children, one of which she and her family lived.

Being a city girl at heart, she moved to Oakland, Calif., with an aunt and became a model for hand and foot wear. During this time she met her future husband, Ray Caldwell. The young couple then moved to Sacramento and had two sons, Larry and Michael. Being too young as she would later say, the couple divorced amicably.

At this time she went to work at McClellan AFB where she then met her next husband, Dr. Robert Clements, a prominent orthodontist in Sacramento. There they had their only daughter, Robin. Again divorced, she never married again.

While still working at McClellan AFB, she met Milton Ludwig and the two hit it off instantly. After a 35-year relationship, sadly Milton died in 2015.

In 1978, she went to work for Lloyd Arnold and Golden Bear Racing part time in the gift shop during the races. She quickly was a hit with the little gift shop and after a few years Arnold helped her get into the SEIU union for pari-mutuel clerks selling tickets at Golden Bear.

Once retired from McClellan, she went full time as a clerk where she worked many of the California tracks for almost 20 years.

Also a horse owner in the early 1980s, she would frequent Cal Expo to watch her daughter’s horses race; one horse in particular was Franky Provolone, who was her favorite.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Standardbred Retirement Foundation at adoptahorse.org.

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