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Eugene W. Clark Ashuelot, NH QCWA # 11633 Chapter 77 |
Eugene Walter Clark, 96, of Broad Brook Road, Ashuelot, passed away July 23, 2012, at Applewood Care and Rehabilitation Center in Winchester after a short period of failing health.
He was born at home on Old Chesterfield Road in Winchester, Sept. 18, 1915, son of Albert and Blanche (DeBell) Clark. He grew up on Broad Brook Road in Ashuelot, and attended schools in Ashuelot and Winchester. In 1929, he ran away from home at age 14 to live with his older brother, Wilton, in New Jersey. His parents agreed to this arrangement on the condition that he practice the piano at least three hours a day, a promise that he kept. Before long, he became an accomplished pianist, performing seven days a week during the Great Depression in nightclubs, restaurants and dayliner cruise boats that sailed up and down the Hudson River.
During the early 1930s, while working in Kingston, N.Y., he met Emily Buzdygan, a singer in local nightclubs, who later went on to sing with Big Band leader Jack Teagarten. They soon thereafter married in St. Remy, N.Y.advertisement
Mr. Clark had a lifelong interest in radio and electronics, which led to careers in radio and recording. He worked for several years at radio station WKNY in Kingston, N.Y., where he engineered live remote broadcasts of President Franklin Roosevelt's campaign visits during the 1930s.
In 1940, he was hired by WOR radio and RKO Recording in New York City, where he engineered live remote broadcasts of Yankees and (Brooklyn) Dodgers baseball games, and worked with numerous famous sports and entertainment personalities during the Golden Age of Radio. His friends included Jackie Gleason, Lou Costello and Frank Sinatra. As chief of recording at RKO Sound Studios, he personally engineered hit recordings by artists including Patsy Cline, Brian Hyland, the Everly Brothers and Simon and Garfunkel.
During the 1940s and '50s, he also studied chiropractics at New York Chiropractic College. He practiced chiropractics through the 1960s, at his home offices in Bogota, N.J., and later in Fair Lawn, N.J.
In 1953, his marriage to Emily ended in divorce. In 1957, he married Elizabeth Kasper of Wilkes-Barre, Pa. That marriage later also ended in divorce.
In 1977, he retired from WOR and RKO after a 37-year career and moved to his summer home on Broad Brook Road in Ashuelot. There he began yet several more careers as a four-term state legislator, Winchester selectman, active member of the Winchester Kiwanis, Thayer Library Board and Winchester Historical Society. He also continued to play piano for many events and weddings, most notably with his friend Dick Hurlburt, and also with The Jazz Express.
Mr. Clark was an avid lifelong ham radio operator (W2HTA) and kept in close touch with a large number of fellow "hams" on a daily basis. He was also an avid golfer and a longtime member of Pine Grove Springs Country Club in Spofford.
Well into his 90s, he began to spend winters in historic Tombstone, Ariz., where he made many new friends and quickly picked up a weekly gig playing piano at The Four Deuces Saloon with his saxophonist friend "Doc" Diamond.
Survivors include two sons from his first marriage, Dr. Jay Davis Clark, and his wife, Linda Young, of Tombstone, and Richard John Clark of Keene; two grandchildren, Adam Jefferson Clark of Albuquerque, N.M., and Sarah Louisa Clark of Northfield; a great-grandson, Grayson Thomas Allaire of Northfield; several nieces and nephews; his neighbors, Andy and Shelly Walker of Ashuelot, who more than anyone else made it possible for him to live comfortably at home well past his 96th birthday; and his cat, Mike. His parents, three brothers, Wilton, Frederick and Reginald, and a sister, Nellie Pearl, all died earlier. His first wife, Emily, passed away in 1982.
A remembrance will be held later this summer in New Hampshire at a time and location to be announced. A traditional Old West memorial walk-down will be held in his memory later this year in Tombstone.
There will be no public calling hours. Foley Funeral Home of Keene is in charge of arrangements ( www.foleyfuneralhome.com).
The family has asked that, in lieu of flowers, contributions be made in Mr. Clark's memory to the Winchester Historical Society, 391 Back Ashuelot Road, Ashuelot 03441; or to Tombstone Animal Shelter, P.O. Box 1085, Tombstone, Ariz. 85638.
From: https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Broadcast-Engineers-Journal/BEJ-1948-12.pdf
The Broadcast Engineer's Journal - Official Publication of the N.A.B.E.T.
(North American Broadcast Engineers and Technicians)
Associate Editors
Hudson Chapter ............................. Gene Clark
Members Hudson Chapter
W2HTA Gene Clark