Happy Father's Day - from RaeLyn

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

On this special day I wanted to write down some memories I have of you that I hope help you realize how much you mean to me as your daughter.

Do you remember.....

Pushing Rebecca, me, and Renaye around on a big cart at a warehouse type place in Orem,UT when I was about 3?

Singing to me the song "Hush little baby don't say a word, papa's gonna buy you a mockingbird" and how I always seemed to choke up everytime you sang that song?

Having us "girls" stand around the big play table downstairs in Nebraska and Midland to put together your Dow Chemical folders for your customers or salesman that always included little notepads and pens? You would get easily frustrated with me and all of us, I'm sure, if something wasn't put in right or the papers were out of order (a skill which I've learned from teaching takes a while for a lot of children to understand and master).

Having the girls and me become the special music number in the little branches in Nebraska when you were a high councilman (Ogalala) when there wasn't one planned? Or when we would sing for your boss or someone from work if they came over for dinner or visited? (So many nights I sit by my window waiting for someone to sing me a song.....And you, you light up my life, you give me hope to carry on!!!!!!!) Ha ha.

Putting your hand in mom's maternity pants on her stomach when she was pregnant with Christopher and totally convincing me (or maybe all of the girls, too) that Christopher was actually kicking so much you could see it (nice hand trick, Dad).

Running down the hallways in Nebraska and Midland like the Incredible Hulk with your puffed up chest and slow jog (good thing your skin didn't bulge out of your shirt and turn green).

Having us learn how to work outside, especially in Midland, with all those TREES and how much raking, and mowing, and gardening there always seemed to be? I've become more appreciative of your desire to want us to do actual physical work now as a mother so my children don't grow up being such wimps physically (ya know, with a wimpy handshake... hahaha..the men in Paraguay on my mission weren't quite used to the "Clark handshake", especially coming from an Hermana missionary).

Going on all of our yearly vacations to Grandpa and Grandma's house for Christmas and to all the church sites? I think we've traveled to almost every state in the U.S. which is a lot more than most people can say with a large family. I still remember once when the girls and I slept outside in the tent in the backyard in Nebraska the night before we drove out west to Grandpa and Grandma's house in Idaho...You came out early in the morning and woke us up with your little "we're going West, we're going West, la, la, la, la, la, la, song.

Spending lots of time fixing up the Midland house-painting, varnishing, etc.so we could have a nice home that we were proud of for the 10 years we lived there?

Coming to our elementary schools as a surprise to talk to the teacher and observe our classrooms and how embarassing it was to have you in there in front of all my friends? I still remember looking out of Mrs. Klaneski's 1st grade classroom and seeing you in the Dow van coming to the school.

Taking us to A&W Root beer in Nebraska for an FHE treat or Dairy Queen for a dilly bar or buster bar or better yet a starkist (remember the dumb drive thru guy when you ordered stars for everyone and he totally misundertstood you...well we've got some grape, some lime, some orange..)

Letting us go to your office in Midland and watching a movie about dominos backwards..we thought it was soo hilareous to listen to the guy speak like russian while he was taking away the dominos instead've setting them up and watching them all go up instead've down.

Sitting in the front row at church in every ward we've been in and how embarassing it was for me to have everyone watching the "Clark kids" while Dad sat up on the stand as one of the counselors. To tell you the truth I was always secretly proud of you when you would stand up and give a talk or bear your testimony because you could capture the whole congregation just by your stature and confidence in extemperaneous speech. You never seemed to follow any notes hardly (a characteristic I wish I would've inherited) and your remarks always seemed to make me realize what a powerful speaker you were in front of crowds and how spiritual you can be.

There are so many things I could list and I'm sure I have forgotten so many or need a picture in front of me to remember but most of all Dad I remember that you have always been there to show us how to try to be faithful members of the church, to have high expectations, to serve others, to be friends and give of ourselves to each other and to make great memories as a family. I hope you will always remember the fun times, the rough times, the challenging times, the learning moments and the happiness we have felt as a family when we are together.

I love you, King Daddy!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love your daughter #2
RaeLyn (Waewin Whitmer :) )

Happy Father's Day - from Alma Christopher

Happy Father's Day Dad!I guess my the role of "father" makes a little more sense now that I have my own little boy at home. I now feel the combination of joy and frustration, patience and impatience, and love that I imagine will only get more extreme as time goes on.

I have many memories of you and me throughout my years at home. Some good, some bad, some emotional, others just funny.

Christmas was always a magical time due to your elvish ways. Stockings, candles, lights, music, and Christmas morning all added to wonderful memories.

Making the doll bed for RaeAnna was a great project that you basically created for me but I felt that i had enough input for it to be from me.

Constructing my Pinewood derby car- it was horribly slow. It did however prove we had an eye for design as we won the "best looking car" award.

Saturday basketball- I grew up watching you play basketball many Saturday mornings. I still have a love of it and still go every Saturday morning.Which reminds me of "Dad's last game." We do use the word famous a lot, but I think it applies here. After weeks of begging Dad to come and watch us play he finally did. Not only did he come to watch, he came to play. He had already "hung up his shoes" almost 10 years earlier and gave them to someone in another ward. He came out and showed his "old stuff" without missing a beat. He hit every shot he took. A 12 foot jumper, a 3 pointer, a baby hook, a left and right hook, and a left hand jump shot. All the boys were there so ask any of us for verification. He, like Michael Jordan, then re-retired. Who knows, with the new shoulder he may be back.

I rolled a large water container down the hill in Midland and broke the basement window. I sincerely thought I was dead. I somehow found the courage to tell you and could not imagine what would happen next as I was sure my life was over. You said that you were glad that I was honest and that I told you. That was it, I couldn't believe it.

Dad also tuned me in to NPR. Despite the part Dad calls "throw away time" I enjoy the news. I also enjoyed listening to NPR and football on the radio in the workroom with Dad.

Throwing the football has always been special. I guess just spending time throwing something back and forth creates a bond.

Pretending to be asleep after coming home in the car was always beneficial as a kid. You always knew that Dad would carry you in and put you in bed. Also the rides to bed were awesome and I give the same ride to little Alma now.

Model airplanes. I love them and hate them. They are so fun to fly, yet always break.

I remember that Dad and I took a trip together to Minneapolis. He had a conference and so I spent the time on the elevators. We did go out and explore a bit. We actually went through a drive through and collected a ton of money that people had dropped. I can't remember if this was the trip but my memory is placing the occurrence at the same time. Dad ordered some milk and the lady said, "It's bowled" Dad said "huh?", she said " It's spolled", Dad responded "it's spolled?" "No!" she said, It's spoiiiillledd!!"

I was always very appreciative of you attending my events and wanted you to be proud.

You would take us to Dow and we would run around the freaky dark basement offices after hours in search of secretary's candy stashes. Man, no wonder I am afraid of the dark. Dad's office plus getting to the bathrooms during a movie at the Midland public library, or at "The Theater" multiplied by our Midland basement late at night equals sheer terror.

There are many other memories that I will save for future entries but I can say that the best experience I have had was the summer Dad and I rode to work with each other every day. We had very honest discussions about many topics and listened to conference talks. It was very special to me.

Well, love you and I' glad you are my Dad.

I wish you may and I hope you might know you're a great Dad tonight.
Alma Christopher Clark

Happy Father's Day - from Chris

Happy Father's Day - from Renaye

Dear Dad,

It is hard to put into words feelings for a special person like you, but I will try my best!

Dad...you helped give me life...physically, you've always provided for me....a roof over my head, clothes to wear, food to eat, places to go & see, people to meet. You gave me life spiritually as well.....a family to belong to, a church and religion to guide me, and a sense of eternal perspective....a knowledge that I'm a daughter of God with a purpose. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about how I am doing in my life according to the Lord's ideals. In fact, I still have the Pie chart you gave me long ago...the one that has sections for social/emotional, physical, spiritual, financial, etc....with the questions "How am I doing? How is my attitude?" etc. I am so grateful for your constant guidance in my life.
I have always enjoyed being with you, hugging you, banging my head into your belly!! ahahah! :) I've always enjoyed learning from you, especially gardening and landscaping, learning about the past...church history and family history. I am grateful for your constant teaching in my life.

There are times in my life that I have resented you, but I can see now that it is only because I didn't understand...I couldn't see what you could. And I realize that those times were meant to be acts of love toward me. I realize this now that I'm a parent!...I guess it always comes full circle.:) I am so grateful for your constant love and caring in my life.

It was difficult for me to find pictures of just you and I, but here are a few that brought back good memories for me and I hope they do for you too! I love you Dad....Happy Father's Day!!!!

Love, Renaye

Happy Father's Day - from Craig.

Lets see, thoughts on Dad. Well there are a couple things I still remember from Michigan. I remember when we were lucky enough to get cereal, which was in a white box with black letters if I remember correctly, Dad would always get mad if we put too much sugar on it. But I still remember the day that he finished his cereal and he commented on how "awesome" the leftover sugar at the bottom of his bowl was. HAHAHA - Of course he always ate a shredded wheat brick and those needed extra sugar.

I also remember the times he would catch us after we jumped off the porch in Michigan, and the time Scot and I went at the same time. Dad caught us both, but we knocked him over and gave him a bloody nose in the process.

Some other memories are dad ramping the car over a small bridge out by Jesse Smith's house. Of course I have to mention all those times that Dad was mad at us so he would chase us around the house in a circle. HAHAHA!

I also remember the time went on the cold weather camp out with me and we stayed warm, until we got out of our tent. Then we froze.

I always appreciated Dad coming to my football games and rugby games, even out at college.

Happy Fathers Day Dad!

Love, Craig

Happy Father's Day Dad - from Rebecca

Happy Father's Day Dad! Yes, we had to set one of these up for you too! It's just such a great place to share memories, thoughts and pictures.

I am grateful for your example and perseverance over the years. As I re-type some of my old journals I realize how often you were giving us advice, making sure we were trying to accomplish our goals and wanting us to succeed.

There are a couple of memories from when I was a little girl that pop into my head:

(Picture: Dad trying to take a nap on the lawn chair in Nebraska. I think I really wanted to sit on the lawn chair too. Those were "cool" 1970s green lawn chairs!)

• A Raisin in the Can - In California, I remember you and I sitting and eating from a big can (like those that Mom puts wheat in at the storehouse) of raisins. It seems that other people in the room (Mom, RaeLyn?) thought it was gross that we were eating so many, but I remember thinking it was really neat that we were both eating all these raisins.



• Island of the Blue Dolphins - You bought me this book when you went on a business trip and it seemed like you read it to me every night before I went to bed. Or, maybe I requested that you read it to me every night before I went to bed. I loved imagining that I was the girl in the book living with a pack of wolves on a distant island. I remember looking forward to it.


• Family Trips - It seemed like our family had the best family vacations. I remember hours in the car driving across the United States. It seemed like you always had confidence that we could get to the next gas station. However, in my mind it seems like we ALWAYS were running out of gas. We probably ran out only about 3-4 times on all the trips, but it seemed like this happened a lot. Was it on purpose?


• Dow Van - You took me on a business trip one day in the Dow Van. I thought it was the neatest trip. You gave me all these little Dow notebooks to write and color in while you were meeting with farmers, presenting at a conference and just generally driving around.



• My first paid job - I think you gave me my first paid job. You let me put all of these packets together for your presentations and would pay me 2 cents per packet or something. I remember setting up everything around the little Thai round table in the Nebraska basement and trying to race against myself to get the tasks complete. Sometimes I'd have to go into the scary room (the laundry room) to get more pens or something to finish the work. Or wait, was that just me sneaking into more pens for my writings?



• Personal Interviews - I remember you meeting with us periodically in our bedrooms for little interviews. You would ask us about our goals and how we were doing. I remembered being kind of embarrassed to have the interview, but feel kind of special too. I've never heard of anyone else ever doing this and so it made it an extra privilege to have these meetings.


• Mission Trip - We flew on the same flight together to Cincinnati or some other Ohio town. I remember appreciating this trip and I think it calmed me down before I went into the missionary training center. And even though I didn't get to see you in Portland when you came to visit, I felt proud that my father was getting to spend time with my mission president, especially when everyone that met you said they thought you were a wonderful father.
  
• Career Advice - I remember not knowing what to do after college. Life hadn't turned out as planned, but come to think of it - I'm not sure I had really "planned" what it would/should be like. You sat down with me and helped me write down ideas on different pieces of paper. I think I still have those pieces of paper somewhere. The important part about all of this is that a couple of major themes emerged from our discuss. I wanted to be involved with computers, education, and training. Although I've felt a bit random over the years, it is interesting that I'm doing exactly that - e-learning in my job today.


• Emails - I always appreciate the emails you send out - talks you've written, quotes from other people, status reports (that typically begin with lines such as "the flowers are blooming and the sunshine is cascading through the front window...") and reminders to give, to write, or to be better people.


• Service - I am grateful for your service to others and to the family. It's taught me a great deal about giving time, talents and energy to helping others even if it means doing things that are uncomfortable, inconvenient, etc.
  

Well, enough with the bulleted list. I'm grateful to have you as a father! I'm grateful for your love and support even though I know it is difficult for you to express those feelings at times. I am grateful that you and Mom work so hard in the temple, spend so much time praying and worrying about us and hoping for our futures.

I love you, Rebecca

Dad - the photographer himself

Happy Father's Day!

We wanted to create a place to share our thoughts, feelings and memories of you from over the years.