Ocala business leader dies at 85

Clark Yandle [Photo courtesy fb.com/YandleBuildingMaterials]

Lanas Clark Yandle, a husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, military veteran and Ocala business leader who spearheaded redevelopment and improvements in the North Magnolia Avenue Miracle Mile area, died Nov. 24 at 85.

Friend, fellow business leader and North Magnolia Merchants Association member Floyd Hershberger, of B -J’s Trophies and Awards, praised Yandle as a gentleman and “great community minded person.”

A May 21, 2018 “Ocala Downtown” article discussed the efforts of the association to make improvements to the North Magnolia Avenue, area dubbed the “Miracle Mile,” which “offers a unique old-fashioned, hometown business feel, where owners work their own counters, and still answer their own phones.”

Yandle served as president of the association and was a founding board member. He was an original member of the Ocala Business Leaders, according to both organizations’ Facebook pages.

Hershberger said the NMMA worked with the city and an Ocala Community Redevelopment Agency brought roadway improvements, landscaping, lighting and grants to help industry and homeowners in the North Magnolia area.

Yandle served as committee chair for the North Magnolia Advisory Committee on the 2019 city of Ocala Community Redevelopment Agency for the North Magnolia area.

“Part of his mantra was to always be ladies and gentlemen when we approached people” about getting improvements in the area, Hershberger said. “He will be missed.”

Yandle Building Material, a fixture for decades at 834 N. Magnolia, started around 1975 at a parcel a few blocks south of the current location and grew over time, according to Yandle’s grandson, Garrett Greinke, 19, who described his grandfather as a “six day a week” worker.

Grandson Tanner Wolter, 32, said Yandle was an “avid breakfast” eater who “did a lot of business” at local eateries including IHOP, Scrambles Cafe and the “old” Koffee Kettle restaurant.

Wolter said his grandfather, an avid NASCAR fan, traveled countrywide for 25 years to attend NASCAR races.

Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt memorabilia are among the NASCAR collectibles in the freestanding office Yandle maintained on the building materials grounds.

“(My grandfather) always said his first race was the last one on the sand at Daytona Beach,” Wolter said.

Races first held on the beach were moved to Daytona International Speedway in 1959 when the track opened, according to daytonainternationalspeedway.com

Yandle was a veteran of the National Guard, according to his family.

An online obituary posted by Countryside Funeral Home indicates Yandle graduated from Ocala High School in 1958 and was active in the Salvation Army and Lumberman’s Association.

He is survived by his wife Mary Yandle, daughter Whitney Yandle Greinke and grandchildren Tanner Wolter, Taylor Hayhurst, Ty Wolter and Garrett Greinke and great grandson Wade Wolter. Yandle’s eldest daughter, Tabatha Yandle Wolter passed away in 2019, the obituary stated.

Funeral services for Yandle will begin with visitation at 9 a.m. Dec. 6, followed by a service at 10 a.m., at First Baptist Church, 2801 SE Maricamp Road, Ocala.