Happy Birthday dad, these were supposed to be a few recollections, I got carried away and could go on and on:
I remember on Saturdays going shopping with you in Salt Lake....to the Hardware store or Sears etc. Or we would go to your school where you would open the kindergarten room for us to play in if we cleaned it up.
I remember skipping where you would have Debbilyn on one side and me on the other and pull our arms up so we would take in air and skip really high and you didn't mind looking like a fool skipping with us.I remember secretly taking the pillow bed-chair to one of your older home teaching ladies and having the whole family on the porch, knock and we all ran. You gave us reports of it's usage in the home. (SLC)
I remember you accepting church callings, whatever they were and doing your best.I don't remember but I heard you gave a talk in church (East Orange NJ) on doing whatever you were asked to do and you decided you would do something hard so you could be an example. You decided the hardest thing you could do would be to sing a solo in front of the congregation...... the same man that was told in his college class you would get a C grade if he didn't sing. And that made you happy. (Clark men didn't get the singing gene the women got)
I remember reading the Book of Mormon at the dinner table.
I remember hearing the story about how we were to move to NYC city... mom and dad had been praying where to move, stay in California, got back to Utah or go to NYC. The answer didn't come, they finally prayed if NYC was the place to take 4 children and finish school, they both woke up in the middle of the night, and said to each other "We're going to NY."I remember going to visit church history sites.
I remember bearing my testimony in Family Home Evening and my children have now benefited from bearing their testimony in the same way I was brought up at each family home evening.I remember being taught what a testimony is...... short.... testifying.
I remember asking my dad to pick me up from High School, he did and honked about 20 times driving up to the school...... never again.I remember being picked up from work and dad always said "the blacks got the priesthood", The day they did, I didn't believe him!
I remember dad driving us from NJ into NYC to finish our contract with the Metropolitan Opera. Late nights for all of us.I remember being told dad would buy me a coat, a pair of shoes and some underwear... that was all I really needed... he did buy more. "I am to cloth you, not decorate you" no designer clothes for me.
I remember dad getting me my jobs. I just had to show up at the dry cleaners and the Dentist's office, the jobs were mine... I rode on dad's coat tail and tried not to disappoint.
Paper route from age 12-16. Dad delivered our papers with us on Sundays and Christmas and if it was terrible weather. Dad was so proud when he found me in a rain storm without a coat because I was protecting the newspapers.
dad's quote I use "I was a stranger and he took me in, and robbed me""I was hungry and he clothed me, naked and he fed me"
I remember we had to stop calling the car Hazel, dad's new secretary was named Hazel.
I remember running Sears Catalogs around to earn money for a tent so we could go camping. Taking our bikes camping.I remember going camping with dad and he took over, mom would go read a book and dad cooked, cleaned, did everything..... It was a little problem when I got married and expected my husband to do all that. We compromised and had the kids do it.I remember playing crazy 8's on a camping trip, having a rain storm and having a mini stream under our tent, putting the dog in the car and having him poop in the car and dad scraping up the poop and using deodorant on the rest of the mess.
Living in a 2 bedroom NYC student apartment with 4 kids. The kitchen was smaller than a small bathroom, 1/2 size fridge. 2 bunk beds in the bedroom and 1 double bed in the small nursery room.
I remember wanting to take tap dancing lessons, dad agreed to drive me and figured he would sign up too. AT the church Christmas party, Santa came in tap dancing.... who was that masked man?
I remember my dates would ask if my dad was there when I was dropped off, they would come in and talk sports with dad... dad kept up on their high school sports and could relive games with them he just read about. More than once, I went to bed and the boy was there still talking to my dad.
I remember a friend of mine called me, upset because her boyfriend wanted to break off their engagement, I had her call dad.... the marriage therapist wannabe and she appreciated it. They've been married 25ish years.
I remember my dad writing letters of recommendations for my friends.I remember my dad would write "you are a winner" cards to me and everyone he met almost. Documenting the positive in people's lives.
I remember my dad writing notes for school, telling them that I was sick. I begged him to sign the notes "DR Clark" and he did... really big.
Dad was asked to give to the Building fund. Instead of saying "I can't", he got another job delivering newspapers to the newspaper boys which turned into a blessing and a consulting job.
He truly cast his bread upon the waters and it came back Buttered and Jammed.
When dad was called to be Patriarch, he called to say he had a new calling. I asked him to not tell me but I guessed it right. When I was helping pack for his mission to Mongolia I said "you know you are going to be a mission President" and he was.... not hard to guess in my mind...
Dad is obedient to a "T". Whatever he is supposed to do, he will do and then some. The Lord is first in his life. Dad honors his priesthood and is a wonderful example to all of his children and grandchildren.Thank you for listening, for being there, for supporting us and being positive. You and mom are a great team, I am proud to be a Clark.
