Norman H. Clark
Norman H. Clark, 78, born in Mesa, AZ, on May 10, 1925, the first son of Sadie Ollorton Clark and Leigh William Clark, died February 9, 2004 at his home in La Conner.
After spending his boyhood in the Southwest, he joined the United States Marine Corps in 1943, became a commissioned officer, and, in 1945-1946, served as an infantry platoon commander in the South Pacific and in North China. After the war Mr. Clark studied at the University of Stockholm in Sweden and at the University of Washington. While continuing his education, he taught high school classes in Anacortes, in Kirkland, and in San Jose, California. He earned his doctorate in American history in 1964 from the University of Washington. After teaching both English and history at Everett Community College, he was named president of the college in 1975.
In 1949 Mr. Clark was married to Kathy Henningsen, whom he had met in Sweden. They had raised a son and a daughter before Kathy preceded him in death in 1989. In 1991 he was married to Susan McKeehan, a long-time family friend.
Though Mr. Clark enjoyed his many friendships, his books, and his many years searching for fish among the wash-rocks and islands off the Washington coast, he regarded himself as primarily a teacher and a writer. He was the author of four books about American history: The Dry Years (1965), Mill Town (1970), which won the Washington State Governor's Award and the Pacific Northwest Booksellers' Award of that year, A Bicentennial History of Washington (1976), and Deliver Us from Evil (1976). In 1982 he was awarded the Washington State Historical Society's Captain Robert Gray Medal for "distinguished contributions to Pacific Northwest History." He also wrote more than thirty articles for encyclopedias and many other articles and reviews for magazines and professional journals.
After his retirement from college teaching and his marriage to Ms. McKeehan, Mr. Clark and his wife determined to enter commercial fishing, living in La Push and fishing offshore in their twenty-foot sea-going dory for six months each year and writing a book about the Quileute Indians.
He is survived by his beloved wife Susan; daughter, Karen L. Gould; son, Kenneth N. Clark; and brother, David L. Clark.
Private family memorial services are planned.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to the Oral History Program in the Office of the Secretary of State, P.O. Box 40243, Olympia, WA. 98504.
Feb 15, 2004 Everett Herald