Claude R. Clark
Born: February 24, 1905
Died: July 14, 1971
Married: Lorraine Rogers Clark
Children: Donald E. Clark, Douglas R. Clark, Mrs. Caroline Hickok
Claude R. Clark was a World War II veteran. He was a son of Edward and Effie Clark Clark.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, July 15, 1971
Claude R. Clark Dies, Well-Known Educator
Claude R. Clark passed away yesterday afternoon at the Saranac Lake General Hospital.
Mr. Clark was a long-time resident of Bloomingdale. He had been the Superintendent of Essex County schools from 1939 – 1967. He was the former mayor of Bloomingdale and the principal of the Bloomingdale School. He was also a 32nd degree Mason; a member of the American Veteran’s Association; and an honorary, life-time member of the Bloomingdale Fire Department.
Mr. Clark was born on February 24, 1905, in Luce, Minn. He was the son of Edward and Effie Clark Clark. His wife Lorraine Rogers Clark, whom he married on June 24, 1930, died on December 7, 1959.
Mr. Clark graduated from Hamilton College in 1928.
Mr. Clark [is survived by] two sons Donald E. Clark of Bloomingdale and Douglas R. Clark of Oneida; one daughter, Mrs. Caroline Hickok, of Bloomingdale; one sister, Muriel, of Auburn; two brothers, Clifford, of Marcellus, and C. Howard, of St. Petersburg, Fla.; eight grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.
Friends may call at the Fortune Funeral Home on Friday between 2 – 4 and 7 – 9. There will be a Masonic service held there on Friday at 7:30. Funeral services will be held on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Fortune Funeral Home with the Rev. J. Bernard Fell, the pastor of the Bloomingdale Methodist Church, officiating. Burial will be in the Brookside Cemetery.
The family requests that those wishing to remember Mr. Clark send donations to the Cancer Fund.
[Obituary courtesy of Michele Tucker, Adirondack Research Room, Saranac Lake Free Library.]
Lake Placid News, July 21, 1966
Claude Clark resigns as district supervisor
As foreseen by school officials several weeks ago, Claude Clark of Bloomingdale, Essex County Supervisory School District 2 superintendent, has submitted his resignation to become effective on August 31.
Mr. Clark has been an educator for 38 years and has served 21 of those years in his present post.
Dr. Frank Tanneberger of Westport, president of the district's Board of Cooperative Education Services (BOCES), confirmed the receipt of Clark's resignation. He added that the BOCES would meet at the Westport Central School on July 27 to decide what to do.
District 2 includes Lake Placid, Keene, AuSable, Willsboro, Westport and Elizabethtown-Lewis while District 1, whose superintendent is John Dillon of Schroon Lake, includes the rest of Essex County.
There has been some thought of combining the two districts with Mr. Clark's resignation. This action would have to be taken by the State Department of Education although the BOCES is inclined not to want to lose its identity.
As of September 1, Mr. Clark will receive his retirement pay. However, it is known that he has a number of plans for continued work in education, at least some of which would take him away from his home in Bloomingdale and even out of the state.
If the Lake Placid voters should decide to merge their schools with the Saranac Lake Central School District into one larger district, this might affect the State Department's decision or the continuation of Essex County District 2 as s separate unit.
The Plattsburgh Press-Republican this morning quotes Mr. Tanneberger as ascribing Mr. Clark's resignation to his "conflict with some of the federal school programs."
Tanneberger added, "I think the situation comes from his working with some of these programs that are against his personal beliefs. I think he finds it hard committing himself to these programs."
In conversation with The Enterprise late this morning. Mr. Clark confirmed this interpretation of his resignation but added that big differences were generally two in number:
<1> He believes that governmental assistance to non-public schools is "definitely unconstitutional and he cited the text book assistance as a case in point. In fact, he said he had resigned as of August 31 because the text book law goes into effect on September 1.
<2> He opposes federal aid to the schools of New York State and the restrictions such aid carries. Mr. Clark feels that the control of schools should be exclusively in the hands of the local community and the states.
He said some states might need federal aid but not New York State, and he added that New York schools would lose more than they gain.
Mr. Clark, speaking of his future work, said he had been offered several opportunities with the federal programs but he had rejected them because of his convictions.
Born in Luce, Minn., the son of a railroad foreman and he majored in history at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York where he received the bachelor of arts degree.
He taught mathematics, science and coached basketball at Bergon from 1928 to 1930 and then had his first principalship at Lafayette. In 1934 he received a masters degree, from Columbia University and then completed his course work at New York University.
In 1937 he became principal of the Bloomingdale school and was named district superintendent on January 1, 1939.
In 1943 he enlisted in the Army and became a first lieutenant. He served as mayor of Bloomingdale from 1948 to 1952.
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