Joseph Clayton Lerner, 71, passed away on December 28, 2021. Joe was born in Los Angeles, California on September 2, 1950 to a family of three older sisters, his father, Robert W. Lerner and his mother, the actress Jan Clayton of Tularosa, New Mexico.
Joe went to school in Mexico City, Mexico and eventually returned to California before coming to Tularosa. He was a devoted Science Fiction reader, a wrangler of feral cats he adopted, confirmed cigar smoker, and avid TV aficionado. He maintained a hermit-like lifestyle writing everyday as was his habit. Though reserved from social interaction, he always had a joke to share with those who took care of him at our local banking drive-ups. His generosity was quietly shared with family and friends.
Joe is preceded in death by his father, Robert W. Lerner; his mother, Jan Clayton; great grandparents, G.V. Clayton and Vera Clayton; sister, Sandra Jane Hayden; and his nephew, Luis Robert Pérez.
Those of us left here without him include his favorite nephew, David Clayton Pérez of Arizona; his sister, Robin Lerner of Boca Raton, Florida and her extended family; his great niece, Kiana Perez Gainer of Minneapolis, Minnesota; and his sister, Karen Lerner of Tularosa, NM.
The Lerner family has entrusted their loved one to the care of Alamogordo Funeral Home to direct the arrangements.
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