LARRY WAYNE CLARK
Birth: 30 Nov 1944
Death: 2 Sep 1998
(age 53 years, 9 months, 2 days)
Larry Wayne Clark
Larry Wayne Clark was born November 30, 1944 in Fort Worth,
Texas. He was the oldest of five children born to William Odis Clark and Minnie
Alice Keen.
Larry was raised on the North Side of Fort Worth. One of his sisters described him as being “all boy” as a child. She said he took some of her jewelry one time and used the beads to decorate his yoyo. And another time he stole the straps off of her purse so he could make foot straps for some stilts that he had made.
When I was a child I remember Daddy (Larry) sitting on the front steps of Odis’ house on 27th street in Fort Worth telling us stories from his childhood. Of course now I don’t remember most of them. But there was one he told about dissecting a toad when he was a kid because he wanted to see what it looked like inside. So he strapped the toad down to a board belly up and cut it open. He poked around for a bit and then sewed up the incision with a needle and red thread. He laughed when he said that he didn’t trim the thread very well so when he let the frog go down the alley behind the house it hopped away and you could see the red thread trailing behind it.
Another story he told his children was about a practical joke he pulled. His dad, Odis, had an old camper from a pickup truck in the front yard. Well Larry got an old purse and put it in the middle of the road with a dollar bill halfway hanging out. He tied the handle of the purse to a fishing rod and then he hid in the camper and awaited his victims. Whenever a car would stop to inspect the purse he would reel it in just a bit. He said that when this one lady stopped she could hear him giggling inside the camper. She got really mad and reached down and snatched up the purse and started towards the camper. He said he was scared to death. But the lady just threw the purse against the camper as hard as she could and left.
Larry was raised on the North Side of Fort Worth. One of his sisters described him as being “all boy” as a child. She said he took some of her jewelry one time and used the beads to decorate his yoyo. And another time he stole the straps off of her purse so he could make foot straps for some stilts that he had made.
When I was a child I remember Daddy (Larry) sitting on the front steps of Odis’ house on 27th street in Fort Worth telling us stories from his childhood. Of course now I don’t remember most of them. But there was one he told about dissecting a toad when he was a kid because he wanted to see what it looked like inside. So he strapped the toad down to a board belly up and cut it open. He poked around for a bit and then sewed up the incision with a needle and red thread. He laughed when he said that he didn’t trim the thread very well so when he let the frog go down the alley behind the house it hopped away and you could see the red thread trailing behind it.
Another story he told his children was about a practical joke he pulled. His dad, Odis, had an old camper from a pickup truck in the front yard. Well Larry got an old purse and put it in the middle of the road with a dollar bill halfway hanging out. He tied the handle of the purse to a fishing rod and then he hid in the camper and awaited his victims. Whenever a car would stop to inspect the purse he would reel it in just a bit. He said that when this one lady stopped she could hear him giggling inside the camper. She got really mad and reached down and snatched up the purse and started towards the camper. He said he was scared to death. But the lady just threw the purse against the camper as hard as she could and left.
Larry Clark - US Navy
In 1962, when he was 18, he enlisted in the United States Navy. While in the Navy he wrote many letters to his mother and his girlfriend, Patricia Ann Glynn, who would later become his wife. Larry was initially assigned to the USS Mount Baker (AE-4), an ammunition ship.
In November 1963, within the first year of enlisting, Larry made a visit home. During this visit he decided he needed more time to be with his girlfriend so he took an extended and unauthorized leave. Well after about two weeks his mother found out he was still in town and she called the Sheriff’s department. At the time Larry did not know who had told on him. In letters to his girlfriend he pleaded with her to find out which one of his friends had done it. It wasn’t until years later that he discovered it had been his own mother. I am told that it was one of the hardest things Minnie Alice had ever done.
After a hard learned lesson, which included a 15-day confinement period in Great Lakes, Illinois, Larry was reassigned to deck maintenance onboard the USS Firedrake (AE-14), which was stationed in San Diego. He may not have liked the Navy but Larry loved being out on the water. The Firedrake was deployed to the Far East during the Vietnam War. Larry always said that one of his favorite places was Hong Kong. I believe it was in Hong Kong were he got his ten tattoos. He had a fly on the back of each hand and a chain on each wrist. But the largest tattoo he had was that of a Geisha girl on his upper arm.
In November 1963, within the first year of enlisting, Larry made a visit home. During this visit he decided he needed more time to be with his girlfriend so he took an extended and unauthorized leave. Well after about two weeks his mother found out he was still in town and she called the Sheriff’s department. At the time Larry did not know who had told on him. In letters to his girlfriend he pleaded with her to find out which one of his friends had done it. It wasn’t until years later that he discovered it had been his own mother. I am told that it was one of the hardest things Minnie Alice had ever done.
After a hard learned lesson, which included a 15-day confinement period in Great Lakes, Illinois, Larry was reassigned to deck maintenance onboard the USS Firedrake (AE-14), which was stationed in San Diego. He may not have liked the Navy but Larry loved being out on the water. The Firedrake was deployed to the Far East during the Vietnam War. Larry always said that one of his favorite places was Hong Kong. I believe it was in Hong Kong were he got his ten tattoos. He had a fly on the back of each hand and a chain on each wrist. But the largest tattoo he had was that of a Geisha girl on his upper arm.
Pat and Larry Clark
Larry returned home to the North Side of Fort Worth after being honorably discharged from the Navy in 1966. It was then that he became a certified engine lathe operator from Fort Worth Technical Institute. He became a machinist, making things like airplane parts. Larry took pleasure in making things out of wood and metal. He often carved ("whittled) things for his friends and family. And he would often bring home things he had made at work, like wind chimes, metal flowerpots, and key chains. He could even whittle a chain out of a long piece of wood. When asked how he does it he would simply say, “Just cut out everything that doesn’t look like a chain.”
On November 5, 1966 he married Patricia Ann Glynn, the daughter of Rufus Joseph Glynn and Marjorie Augustine Verrett, all from Morgan City, Louisiana. Larry and Pat had four children: Missy, Tammy, Mark, and Sam.
For a short time in the early 1970’s Larry and Pat moved to Galena Park, Texas – a suburb of Houston. It was there that Larry had a job working on a fishing boat. I remember him bringing home a lot crab and shrimp.
Larry was an artisan, a craftsman, an inventor and an avid outdoors man. He loved to use his hands to make things, and had a brilliant mind for solving puzzles. He loved walking through the woods, gardening, hunting, fishing, camping and living in the country. He loved Gods creations—even snakes. In one of his Navy letters home he bragged about knowing more about snakes than anyone else on his ship. When their first child Melissa was a baby he had filled the baby’s room with his pet snakes (I guess he didn’t have a better place to keep them). Pat would be too scared to go in and get the baby so the baby was hardly ever in her room.
Larry enjoyed his life in a quiet way, shying away from praise or attention from anything he accomplished. Once he went into a machine shop looking for work and at first they told him they had no work to offer him. As Larry turned to leave, the man took a part off his desk that the plant had been manufacturing and asked Larry if he could make it. Larry grinned modestly and told him "I made that one".
On November 5, 1966 he married Patricia Ann Glynn, the daughter of Rufus Joseph Glynn and Marjorie Augustine Verrett, all from Morgan City, Louisiana. Larry and Pat had four children: Missy, Tammy, Mark, and Sam.
For a short time in the early 1970’s Larry and Pat moved to Galena Park, Texas – a suburb of Houston. It was there that Larry had a job working on a fishing boat. I remember him bringing home a lot crab and shrimp.
Larry was an artisan, a craftsman, an inventor and an avid outdoors man. He loved to use his hands to make things, and had a brilliant mind for solving puzzles. He loved walking through the woods, gardening, hunting, fishing, camping and living in the country. He loved Gods creations—even snakes. In one of his Navy letters home he bragged about knowing more about snakes than anyone else on his ship. When their first child Melissa was a baby he had filled the baby’s room with his pet snakes (I guess he didn’t have a better place to keep them). Pat would be too scared to go in and get the baby so the baby was hardly ever in her room.
Larry enjoyed his life in a quiet way, shying away from praise or attention from anything he accomplished. Once he went into a machine shop looking for work and at first they told him they had no work to offer him. As Larry turned to leave, the man took a part off his desk that the plant had been manufacturing and asked Larry if he could make it. Larry grinned modestly and told him "I made that one".
Larry Clark
Larry spent most of his free time fishing. I remember once he had gone to the coast and came back with what seemed like hundreds of fish. I can still picture them all strung up and laying in rows in the backyard as he showed them off to everyone. On another occasion he had ran out of excuses for missing work but he loved fishing so much that he got all dressed up in a suit and tie and went into work and told his boss he had a funeral to attend…just so he could have the day off to go fishing.
One summer during the mid to late 1970’s Larry took his wife and children on an extended camping trip. He cleared an area under some trees on the property located about nine miles north of Weatherford that his Dad had inherited from his father—the land had originally belonged to Larry’s great grandfather, James Edward Clark. At that time there weren’t nearly as many houses in the area as there are now. It was very secluded. There wasn’t even a road going into the property. The only house I remember being nearby at that time was Alvin and Beulah Clark’s.
Larry’s family slept under the stars and cooked all meals on a campfire for three months. During the days trips would be made to Weatherford Lake for swimming and fishing. And clean fresh water was drawn from a pump that was nearby on the property of Larry’s uncle, James Alvin Clark. At the time we, Larry’s children, just believed that Daddy just really enjoyed camping and the outdoors so much that he had his family reside in the woods for three months. As we got older we learned it was probably because we had no place else to live at the time. However, now I think it may have been a combination of the both. Either way it was a fun summer and if times were hard us kids sure didn’t know about it.
Larry also liked to explore the woods surrounding the Clark property. If there was a snake within fifty feet Larry could spot it. He would also search the area for Indian arrowheads. Once he even found an old Indian grinding bowl in a field belonging to his cousin, Ronnie Clark. He laid the bowl aside intending to get it later but when he went back for it the field had been plowed. He was fascinated with Indians and nature.
One summer during the mid to late 1970’s Larry took his wife and children on an extended camping trip. He cleared an area under some trees on the property located about nine miles north of Weatherford that his Dad had inherited from his father—the land had originally belonged to Larry’s great grandfather, James Edward Clark. At that time there weren’t nearly as many houses in the area as there are now. It was very secluded. There wasn’t even a road going into the property. The only house I remember being nearby at that time was Alvin and Beulah Clark’s.
Larry’s family slept under the stars and cooked all meals on a campfire for three months. During the days trips would be made to Weatherford Lake for swimming and fishing. And clean fresh water was drawn from a pump that was nearby on the property of Larry’s uncle, James Alvin Clark. At the time we, Larry’s children, just believed that Daddy just really enjoyed camping and the outdoors so much that he had his family reside in the woods for three months. As we got older we learned it was probably because we had no place else to live at the time. However, now I think it may have been a combination of the both. Either way it was a fun summer and if times were hard us kids sure didn’t know about it.
Larry also liked to explore the woods surrounding the Clark property. If there was a snake within fifty feet Larry could spot it. He would also search the area for Indian arrowheads. Once he even found an old Indian grinding bowl in a field belonging to his cousin, Ronnie Clark. He laid the bowl aside intending to get it later but when he went back for it the field had been plowed. He was fascinated with Indians and nature.
As Larry got older he despised the North Side of Fort Worth. Larry and Pat eventually moved to Weatherford and onto the property that had originally belonged to his great grandfather, Jim Clark. He made the 35-mile commute to Fort Worth for work every morning. It was after this move that he had a couple of bad experiences on the North Side. One Friday back in 1987, after he had left Franko’s supermarket to cash his paycheck, he went to the Fina station on Long Avenue (near 23rd street) to get gas for his truck. After filling up he went inside and paid and as soon as he got back into the truck a man opened the passenger side door and got into the truck next to him. He put a gun into Larry’s side and instructed him on where to drive. He had him turn down 23rd street, going past the home of Wayman & Mary Keen (his uncle), and then on around the corner. Larry stopped near the alley where the man left after taking most of his money and a watch that was lying on the dash of the truck. Larry said that he was left with a little less than $20. When paying for the gas he had put the change from the gas into his shirt pocket and when the guy asked for all his money he just forgot it was there. Otherwise, he would have given it to him as well. It is believed that the man saw Larry cash his check and followed him from Franko’s supermarket. Larry was shaken up pretty bad and didn’t want to drive back to the North Side anymore than he had too.
However, not long after that incident, I believe the same year, more trouble found Larry. He was washing his truck at the car wash on the corner of Long Ave and Jacksboro Hwy, just down the road from where he was robbed, when a gang fight broke out. The opposing gangs were in bays on either side of him. So he was literally caught in the middle. When he heard the commotion he turned to look. But I guess one of the thugs didn’t want him looking and came at him with a 2x4. Larry said the guy took a swing at his head. He tried to duck out of the way causing the guy to hit him in the shoulder instead. After that Larry rarely went to the North Side of Fort Worth. In fact, other than going to his Grandmother’s (Lois Keen’s) house, I bet he went no more that 2 or 3 times until his death 11 years later.
Larry died in September 1998. He is buried next to his parents in Clark Cemetery directly across the road from his home and the countryside he loved so much.
Written by Tammy Brown (daughter of Larry)
However, not long after that incident, I believe the same year, more trouble found Larry. He was washing his truck at the car wash on the corner of Long Ave and Jacksboro Hwy, just down the road from where he was robbed, when a gang fight broke out. The opposing gangs were in bays on either side of him. So he was literally caught in the middle. When he heard the commotion he turned to look. But I guess one of the thugs didn’t want him looking and came at him with a 2x4. Larry said the guy took a swing at his head. He tried to duck out of the way causing the guy to hit him in the shoulder instead. After that Larry rarely went to the North Side of Fort Worth. In fact, other than going to his Grandmother’s (Lois Keen’s) house, I bet he went no more that 2 or 3 times until his death 11 years later.
Larry died in September 1998. He is buried next to his parents in Clark Cemetery directly across the road from his home and the countryside he loved so much.
Written by Tammy Brown (daughter of Larry)
