The Biography of Donald Lee Clark

Donald was the only child of Canby and Irene Clark. When he was born, the parents were unclear what to name him, and what they settled on was the name suggested by Irene's sister, Ida Anderson. Canby's father, John Adams Clark, was reportedly amazed by this name. He had expected that Donald would be named after some ancestor or some other member of the family.

Donald grew up in Los Angeles County, and lived during his youth in the cities of Long Beach and Hynes (now Paramount), California.

In 1942, when Donald was 12 years of age, his father, who was working in the San Pedro, California shipyard as a shipbuilder, died in a fall from the superstructure of the USS Ajax, a US Navy warship under construction during World War II.

Donald graduated from Compton High School in 1947, and joined the US Marine Corps during that same year. He attended Boot Camp in San Diego, and Radio Operator's training at Camp Pendleton, California, and served in various stations throughout the world during his three years of service. He was honorably discharged from the Corps in 1950, having attained the rank of Private First Class.

Not long after leaving the Marines, Don married Barbara Jean Raabe, and remained married to her until her death on 23 October 1958. Don and Barbara had two children, Michael Lee and Mark Sheridan.

He worked for various employers throughout his life, but his main career was with Douglas Aircraft Company (later McDonnell-Douglas Corp., now a part of Boeing Aircraft Company). Initially working in aircraft assembly, he later transferred to Quality Assurance, which is where he spent most of his Douglas career. From his work at the Long Beach, California plant, he was promoted in 1967 to the quality assurance team assigned to Douglas' Canadian branch in Malton (near Toronto), Ontario, and after nearly three years there, was made head of the quality assurance team at Dowty-Rotol in Gloucester, England, a British company holding the contract to build the nose landing gear for the Douglas DC-10. He and his family lived in England until 1972, when he was returned to Long Beach at the conclusion of the Dowty-Rotol contract.

While living in Britain, he and Florence traveled extensively there, and among their expeditions visited Blarney Castle, in Ireland, where they kissed the Blarney Stone, conferring the "gift of gab" upon them (see the legend of the Blarney Stone). Of course, to Donald this was a symbolic gesture at best, as he already possessed this gift in rich measure! He became friends with a retired Royal Marine Sergeant Major named P. J. Scrivin, and through this gentleman's good offices was eventually given honorary membership in the British Legion! This is apparently very unusual, as generally only British subjects may become members. Having become somewhat of an anglophile, Donald later built a faux English Pub inside his home in Garden Grove, California, and named it "The Scrivin."

Donald acquired an unusual automobile while in Britain, a 1938 Rolls-Royce. He bought it from a gentleman who had owned it since it was manufactured, and who had frequently had the car shipped back and forth to South Africa on his business there. Since it was in somewhat less than excellent condition, Dad began a process of restoration of the old car, and shipped it back home to California when his assignment in England was over. The car became a good investment, as he eventually sold it to a Oklahoma millionaire for a good deal more money than he had put into it.

Donald continued to work for McDonnell-Douglas until October 17, 1976, when he died as a result of a sudden heart attack in his home in Garden Grove, California. He was buried in the Magnolia Park Cemetery in Garden. 22 years later, his wife Florence followed him and was buried beside him.

He was an intelligent and interesting man. Among his hobbies and interests were his Indian heritage and his family's genealogy. To the last he was a researcher. During the summer prior to his death, Florence and he made a grand tour of New England, especially Vermont looking for his great great grandfather, Ransom R. Clark. Had he been permitted to tarry in this life, there is no doubt that he would have amassed an amazing quantity of data; as it was, there was so much already that is has been difficult to correlate it all.

Donald planned to write his autobiography at some point, but his unexpected death at age 46 prevented this. Let this be a lesson to everyone: do it now, you never what the future holds. Hopefully, this brief biographical note will suffice until I can write it all.

Speaking as his son, he was a great man. He was not always easy to live with (who is?), but to me he was a worthy example and someone to look up to and love.

---Michael L. Clark