Memories of AMASA L. CLARK
(Brief stories and reminiscences collected by his grandson, Lewis Duncan Clark. Photos, page numbers, and format from the original booklet are not shown here. This link will take you to the booklet. https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=2CB129315FA7FDEF!523&authkey=!APvbXombJznw2ww&ithint=file%2cdocx)
How do you measure a human life?
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Is it by the length of time it spans, the number of people it influences, or the number of good works it accomplishes? Surely it is a combination of these things, and probably others. There are those who live long and do little. There are others who are taken away just when their power for good is at its zenith. Then there are those few rare individuals who live long and useful lives that leave a mark on mankind for generations to come.
He is truly blessed who finds the pattern on life that starts with usefulness in the early years and then is privileged to live on with health and the ability to serve in many ways. Such individuals tower above the crowd and set a mark to which others can aspire. Such a life has both length and depth. Such a life we honor today.
E.D. Partridge (Amasa’s Son-in-law). Written for Amasa’s 100th birthday celebration, June 6, 1965.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Life Sketch
Stories
TitleSource
Generosity and Concern for Others
1Support for MissionariesIda Clark
2Australian MissionaryJohn R. Kunz
3Visiting the Old FolksNell Partridge
4WatermelonNell Partridge
5We Can’t Keep Him in BedNell Partridge
6Walking Up and Down the HallsDevon Jones
7The Truth About Theater SeatsIda Clark
8The Governor’s SecretaryNell Partridge, Ida Clark
9Get a Dollar BillDevon Jones
10Prayer for HapJanetta Robinson
11A Letter of CreditJanetta Robinson
Health and Exercise
12Whole Wheat and Granite StonesNell Partridge, Ida Clark
13Health as InheritanceNell Partridge
14More Than the Whole WheatHal Robinson
15Hospital ExerciseIda Clark
Business and Money
16The Richest Man in UtahNell Partridge
17Character LoansRichard Clark
18Don’t Loan Him $15Richard Clark
19No Loan for LewisHal Robinson
20Wrapped in NewspaperRulon Clark
21Brown Bag LunchEzra Clark
22CoppersNell Partridge
The Church and Religion
23The Best InvestmentHal Robinson
24Some QualmsHal Robinson
25A Broader TrackDevon Jones
26Building a Utah ZionEzra Clark
The Bike
27A Track in the SnowDale Clark
28Who Would Think to Tell a Hundred Year Old?Nell Partridge
Simple Joys
29Games with ChildrenNell Partridge
30Shine OnNell Partridge
31Watching TrainsNell Partridge
Taxes
32Estate TaxHal Robinson
33Tax ChecksHal Robinson
AMASA AS DENTIST, MUSIC, MODESTY PINS
34Amasa as DentistHal Robinson
35That’s What New Year’s WasNell Partridge
36Modesty PinsIda Clark
Amasa’s Death
37Hello, My FatherNell Partridge
Addendum
Introduction
Amasa Lyman Clark was born June 6, 1865, two months after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated and a decade before the invention of the telephone. He died at the age of 102, May 25, 1968, the same month Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated and just a year before the first manned landing on the moon.
Amasa was the 10th of 11 children of Ezra Thompson Clark and Mary Stevenson. Ezra, also had 10 children with Susan Leggett. The two families lived in homes across the street from each other on State Street in Farmington, Utah. It was here that Amasa would live for virtually his entire life. He had two brothers who died while serving as Mormon missionaries. He left his young wife to serve for three years from 1887 to 1889 in the Southern States Mission, primarily in the Carolinas and Tennessee.
Amasa married Alice Steed in 1885. She died after the birth of their fifth child. He married Susan Duncan in 1897 and five more children came into the home.
He served as Mayor of Farmington from 1908 – 1911. While Mayor, electric lights replaced coal oil and candles. He served as County Treasurer for two years and as City Treasurer for 18 years. He was called as the Farmington Ward Bishop in 1915 and served for 16 years. He was an active supporter of the Boy Scouts of America and received its Silver Beaver award. He earned his living as a farmer and banker, working for many years at the Davis County Bank with the title of Cashier. He was president of the Bank for 22 years.
I collected these stories of my grandfather in December 1980 in fulfillment of an assignment for Richard Poulsen’s Folklore class at BYU. For this version, I have added one story, corrected minor errors, included photographs, and deleted most of my original editorial comments. I have also attached copies of newspaper articles about his life. I credit my Aunt Nell Partridge, who provided enthusiasm, encouragement, and direction for the project. She arranged for and accompanied me to most of the interviews and provided many of her own stories.
I hope these stories will bring joy to those who read them, help us know and better appreciate this good man, and influence us to live better, lives.
Lewis Duncan Clark
Bountiful, Utah
November 2012
GENEROSITY AND CONCERN FOR OTHERS
1 - Support of Missionaries
Ida Clark and Nell Partridge
Amasa’s support of missionaries was mentioned by almost all of those interviewed.
He had a missionary in the field all the time. There might have been a month or two off and on. It wasn’t a constant thing, but he was supporting a missionary always, sometimes two. Because Julian [Amasa’s son] was in Redwood City, he sent missionaries from Redwood City who didn’t even know who he was. To keep the missionaries representing that area.
2 - Australian Missionary
John R. Kunz
This story was told during a meeting in the in the Bountiful Temple, by a relative of Amasa's, and retold later in more detail. This incident occurred in 1989.
I, John A. Kunz, served a mission with my wife in the Sydney, Australia Temple. We attended many different wards. In one ward in Priesthood meeting, one of the Elders mentioned he joined the Church, but the rest of his family did not. He lived in a small Branch and wanted to serve a mission. He said a man from Farmington, Utah supported him on his mission. I asked the member if the man's name was Amasy Clark and he said, "Yes, how did you know?" I said, "Amasy Clark was my Grandfather Clark's brother and he supported missionaries. The First Presidency would tell him about people who needed help." I thought that was unique.
3 – Visiting The Old Folks
Nell Partridge
When he was, well all through the years, but when he was in his nineties and hundreds, he would go visiting the old folks. And when I would come out from the east, my great responsibility was to drive him around to visit the old folks. Now, many of these old folks were twenty, twenty-five, thirty years younger than he was, but they were the “old folks” and he went to visit them.
4 - Watermelon
Nell Partridge
Amasa was widely known for his “anonymous” watermelon deliveries. Nell remarked, “They may not have liked watermelon, but they got one anyway.” At an event honoring his 100th birthday, Lucy Rigby McCullough said, “And so each year on simmery summery days, the ladies of this community who have lost their husbands will look out on their porches or lawns and each will see a shining green-watermelon and each will know that A. L. Clark has renewed his token of friendship with her.” In addition to watermelon, others mentioned that Amasa sometimes delivered sugar, honey, and flour.
Father used to order a car load of watermelon and deliver them to all the widows - a truck, a truck load. And then he expanded to Kaysville and Centerville. I had to drive many times and when I wasn’t here, Elwood Clark drove him. Everyone in Davis County knew where they came from, but he thought it was “anonymous.” He was very generous.
5 – We Can’t Keep Him in Bed
Nell Partridge
Many of those interviewed remembered that Amasa visited the sick and often offered a prayer or priesthood blessing.
I went to visit Father in the hospital when he was, oh, in his nineties. He had pneumonia. I went in and he wasn’t in his room and I waited and finally I went to the nurse and I said, “Where is he?” and she said, “Oh, I bet he’s gone visiting the sick. We can’t keep him in bed. He always go around visiting the sick.” Now, he had pneumonia!
6 – Walking Up and Down the Halls
De Vaughn Jones
Another hospital story.
Toward the later part of his life, the last year or two, he was in the LDS Hospital for a time. My wife and I went in to see him one night and we went to his room and we learned that he wasn’t in his room. We inquired where he was and we found him and he was walking up and down the halls giving blessings to people who were more sickly than he, or at least he thought so. And he was pretty bad. He said, “You know, no matter how ill one becomes, no matter how much he suffers, there’s always somebody a little bit worse.”
7 – The Truth About Theater Seats
Ida Clark
Amasa continued to attend and enjoy going to the theater even in very old age. When his wife, Susan, was not feeling well enough to go out, he often took his widowed daughter-in-law. When Ida related this incident from her younger years, she knew it would be hard to believe, hence her final “That’s the truth.” The Salt Lake Theatre was built in 1861 and located on the northwest corner of State Street and First South Street in Salt Lake City. It survived two-thirds of a century before it was razed in 1928.
When I was first married, we used to come into the Salt Lake Theater for matinees. This time, Grandmother was on a trip to the east or on a vacation – she wasn’t home. So Grant and Herald, they bought tickets for Mabel and myself and one for Grandfather at the Salt Lake Theater. It was when George Arvis was going to play “Smiling Through,” which was a great, great actor and performance. So, we went in, took our seats and Grandfather excused himself. Now we were right down in the best seats. Now this is the truth. And he went and he didn’t come in and we waited. It kind of spoiled the show because he didn’t come. He decided that those seats were too expensive for people to sit in because they were right down next to the orchestra. And so he goes out and he turns his ticket in and gets two lesser expensive seats up in one of the galleries. There were three or four galleries. And he takes somebody from the street that he could see, a stranger, but just somebody he thought could enjoy it. That’s the truth.
8 – The Governor’s Secretary
Nell Partridge and Ida Clark
Here, Amasa is remembered by Nell for his solicitous attitude toward his wife, Susan. She was his second wife and became step-mother to three boys upon he marriage. Susan had worked as Governor Simon Bamberger’s secretary. She lived into her 80s.
He would carry a little cushion under his arm to put behind her back at church because her back hurt her so. And they used to call them the lovers. They used to sit there in church holding hands at this age. You see, she was the secretary to the Governor when she married him. And he said, “I took her from the Governor’s office and put her on a washboard.” He said that to me more than once. He realized it because there were these three boys.
The Farmington LDS meetinghouse. Designed by Reuben Broadbent, construction of the meetinghouse began in 1861. The building was dedicated in January 1864.
9 – Get a Dollar Bill
De Vaughn Jones
I’ll tell you one thing that Pat Rice told me. Pat came into the bank at one time and he said, “I want you to stand at that door there and everyone that comes in, if possible, I want you to get a dollar bill from.” Pat said, “I didn’t ask him why. I knew it would be for some good cause. I stood there until I had a nice pile of them,” and he showed me by separating his hands about three or four inches. He said, “I don’t know how many were there, but there were quite a number.” He said he learned that one of the widows in town had received an envelope full of one dollar bills.
Davis County Bank - Farmington
10 – Prayer for Hap
Janetta Robinson
Amasa served as Bishop of Farmington for 16 years. Charitable practices that would have been developed over that time, such as visiting and praying for and blessing the sick, seemed to carry with him throughout his life.
I’m sure Bishop Clark did this on many occasions. Hap was seriously ill about three or four months. We did not know what was the matter. So, we were worried and Bishop Clark came in, maybe on several occasions, I don’t know, and he would just come in and kneel down by Hap’s bed and pray. Unasked, uncalled for. We didn’t call him up. He would just come in and do that and then he would go. It was just a very impressive thing.
11 – Letter of Credit
Jannetta Robinson
Like many others, this story from a next door neighbor, was told with a combination of reverence and humor.
When I went to New York once, I went on a very small budget and, you know, you figure you’ve got enough, but you just know that maybe you’re not going to end up with enough. So, Hap thought I better take a letter of credit, just in case I had to cash a check.
Well, of course, “in case” arrived. I felt that I shouldn’t start home without a little money. And so I thought, “I think I’ll write a check for fifty dollars, just in case.” So, I went downstairs to the desk and asked if they would cash a check. “Well, do you have any identification?” “I have a letter of credit from our banker.” “Oh, that would be fine. Let me see it.”
Well, I showed it to him and he began to laugh. And he laughed and he laughed. I hadn’t read the letter. I didn’t know what he was laughing at. And I didn’t dare look until I got back into my room. I wish I still had that letter. He said, “To Whom It May Concern. This dear, noble lady, who is in the environs of your beautiful city, I hope that you will do anything that you can to make her trip comfortable and pleasant and if she needs to cash a check, her credit is good.” He said, “Lady, you can have anything you want.”
HEALTH, LONGEVITY, and EXERCISE
12 – Whole Wheat and Granite Stones
Ida Clark and Nell Partridge
As was the case with other stories, this one was related by Ida and Nell, with alternating sentences from the two. Or one might start a sentence and the other finish. Amasa was often asked what it was that accounted for his long life. He developed some standardized answers that can be tracked in newspaper articles. Wheat and exercise are almost universal memories of those who knew him.
Father was 50 years ahead of his time. What Father preached is the current doctrine of the doctors now. Plenty of exercise. Whole wheat. Fresh bread. Fresh fruit. And he lived by that. He had these two big stones. Not too large, but heavy. Granite stones. And as he walked, he walked like this. (Nell walks with exaggerated arm swing.) You know, when he got a little bit so that he didn’t have quite as good a balance, he carried on the weaker side, he would carry one stone. And he always arranged the stone, get the different stones, one that would be exactly the right weight. He could tell by his walk. When it made a perfect balance, he would walk straight.
13 – Health as Inheritance
Nell Partridge
Amasa did not believe it would be good to leave his posterity a lot of money. There were better things to leave, and one was health. He preached whole wheat. He gave wheat grinders to encourage the use of whole wheat.
One of his great generosities was the flour mills. He used to buy these electric flour mills and give them to the widows and he gave one to the school so they could use it in the school lunch program. He just felt that everyone should grind their wheat. When they would ask him why he had lived so long and so on, he would say, “Oh, the whole kernel of the wheat. The whole kernel of the wheat.” I saw him make out one check, was him write the check for three thousand dollars for wheat mills that he gave to people. And he said, “What better estate in the world could I leave with my posterity than health.” He gave them right and left.
14 – More Than the Whole Wheat
Hal Robinson
He said his longevity was due primarily to his intake of food. He would strive and strive to get people to take whole wheat. He preached it all over the church wherever he went. Whole wheat and you’ll live a long time. A few years before he died, we were sitting in his office in the bank and he got talking to me about some of the early days. And he said, “Do you eat whole wheat Hal?” And I said, “No, I think you were wrong, Amasy.” And he said, “Why?” “I think the Lord blessed you more than the whole wheat.” He said, “I believe you’re right.”
15 – Hospital Exercise
Ida Clark
When he had that eye operation, I went with him to have that operation. The next day, I went up to see him and he wasn’t in his bed. Now at that time, they kept very, very quiet after a cataract. Oh, three or four days they didn’t move. And so I went in and there he wasn’t in his bed. And I went to the nurse and said, “Where on earth is he?” And she said, “Well, he’s walking up and down the steps cause he said he had to have his exercise.”
BUSINESS AND MONEY
16 – The Richest Man in Utah
Nell Partridge
Amasa’s business philosophy included avoiding excessive profits and sharing with those in need.
I remember that he sold some property for $350 an acre and it was worth two or three times that amount. He had bought it for $50 an acre and didn’t feel it would be right to take any more for it. When Charles R. Maybe was the governor of Utah, he was a family friend, and Mother took me to some kind of reception up there at the Capitol. I was getting high school age or so. Yes, I was in college. And he said to me, “Your father could have been the richest man in Utah, if he’d have kept his money and invested it instead of giving it away and spreading it around. And I said, “Well, Uncle Charlie, Father would tell you that he is the richest man in Utah.”
17 – Character Loans
Richard Clark
Many of the story tellers mentioned the trust Amasa had in others. This story illustrates that trust – especially if one paid tithing.
He would loan for young men to go to school. He had great faith in their ability. And if he knew a person were a tithe payer, he considered that a sign of absolute integrity and honesty. That was often the collateral on a loan. It was a loan on character because if a person was honest with the Lord, he’d be honest with him. A lot of the loans that he made, they were repaid many times simply out of respect for the trust that A.L. Clark had in the individual. In other words, they’d break their necks to pay that loan back because they didn’t want A.L. Clark to change his opinion that he was a trustworthy and upright individual.
18 – Don’t Loan Him $15
Richard Clark
I drove around Farmington with Grandfather in the car. He was pointing out, well, “So and so lives here, we have a mortgage on this house” and everything. Finally, we went by a home of an individual and he said, “Well, this man here is a very interesting person. I work with him in the Boy Scouts. He works in Salt Lake City. He’s an insurance man, real estate, probably one of the finest Sunday School teachers in the whole church.” But, he said, “I don’t want you to ever loan him as much as fifteen dollars.”
19 – School Loan
Hal Robinson
Amasa was careful about giving money to his own family.
He had more interest in everybody than he did his own immediate family, lots more. I remember when Lewis wanted to go to medical school. He came over to our office across the road from the bank and he said, “President Robinson, I want to go to medical school. Will you finance me?” And Dad looked at him and said, “Your father should finance you.” Well, he thinks it would be better for somebody else to finance him because he would feel the responsibility of paying it back. So, Father financed him.
20 – Wrapped in Newspaper
Rulon Clark
This story is typical of a number related about Amasa and money transfers, suggesting an attitude that was casual and trusting.
We used to ride the Bamberger to school and one day coming home from school the coach was crowded and we had to stand up in the baggage room. He had placed a parcel wrapped in newspaper there on one of the trunks, or something. He said, “I wish you would watch this for me for a little while.” I did, and not very careful. I was just by it. And a little breeze came up and blew the paper up and there it was all loaded with green backs. He had $3,000 wrapped up in an old newspaper and asked me to watch it. After that I took pretty good care of it.
The Bamberger railroad was built as a steam road and later converted to an electric interurban line. The line was extended to Farmington in 1895. Electric passenger cars operated until 1952.
21 – Brown Bag Lunch
We used to get into the vault and take the excess cash to the Federal Reserve. One day, he took the bus into Salt Lake to drop off some money and take care of some other errands. After he had come back, the bus driver came into the bank and said, “I think Mr. Clark left his lunch on the bus.” He brought in a brown bag and it had $28,000 in currency in it.
22 – Coppers
Nell Partridge
He had several quaint expressions. He used to speak of “coppers.” When I’d go in as a child and want a penny, he’d get out this little statue of the Woolworth Building. And he would show me and any of my friends who were tagging along. “Now this building was built with coppers like this.” You see, they saved coppers and that’s how they built this big building.
THE CHURCH AND RELIGION
23 – The Best Investment
Hal Robinson
I sat with him many, many times and young people would come in and say, “Bishop, what is a good investment?” And he’d usually scratch his head and say, “Well, the best investment I ever found is tithing.” I’ll bet you he repeated that many, many times. And the person who asked the question always looked up rather startled because Amasy knew his tithing record. He always said, “Tithing is the best investment.”
24 – Some Qualms
Hal Robinson
He had no fear of death. No fear of death at all. He knew that he would have a resurrection. He said to me one day, “You know, I wonder how I’m gonna be received over there. I have a little fear and some qualms as to just how they’re gonna take me.” I said, “Well, if you don’t get a good seat, none of us will.”
25 – A Broader Track
De Vaughn Jones
I remember I used to teach the High Priests’ class. One day after class, he and I were visiting a bit and he brought up so and so who just wasn’t in the church at all. And he said, “I believe you’re the one person who could bring him around.” I said, “Yes, but who’s going to bring me around.” And he said, “Well, bless you, you just travel a little broader track than the rest of us.”
26 – Building a Utah Zion
Ezra Clark
We used to listen to conference on the radio in his office. After one session, he came out and said, “Well, another session has gone by and they didn’t mention it.” I said, “Didn’t mention what, Bishop?” “Another conference has gone by and they didn’t tell us to get ready to go to Jackson County.” And they he added, “I don’t worry about it though because they are spending a lot of money on buildings and they are building well. I think they plan on staying.”
THE BIKE
27 – A Track in the Snow
Dale Clark
Amasa was famous for his bicycle riding. He was pictured riding his bike in Church magazines and in newspapers. He rode his bike to work until he was about 100 years old.
Dad was about 92 and in poor health. He had been in the hospital recently because of a bad heart. One morning it had been snowing and several inches collected on the roads and ground. I stopped by before work and asked Father if he would like to ride to work with me. He refused because he would need the bike to get back home from work. Then I offered to put the bike in the car so it would be there for his use, but he refused, saying he didn’t want to go through the trouble. Then I warned him about the hazardous conditions with all the snow around. He pointed to some tire tracks in the snow and explained how he could skillfully guide the bike tire along that track all the way to the bank. Well, at this point I told him I could ride the bike for him. With true fatherly concern, he said I might I might fall and hurt myself.
28 – Who Would Think to Tell a Hundred Year-old
Nell Partridge
This may be the most accurate of many stories about the end of the bike. Amasa rode his bike to work until he was almost 100 years old.
Well, let me tell you a little more about this cataract. I came out from the east just two weeks after this. And he came to meet me and he was leaving his bicycle, as he used to do when he’d walk with us, the bicycle would be along the side. And I said, “Father, you aren’t riding your bicycle are you? And he said, “Yes, yes.” And I said, “Did your doctor say you could do that?” “Well, he didn’t say I couldn’t.” So I said, “Let’s go telephone your doctor. What’s his name?” And I looked it up in the directory and called and I introduced myself. And I said, “Dr. Hatch, did you know that Father is riding a bicycle?” He said, “What?” “Well, you didn’t tell him not to.” “Great Scott! Who would think to tell a hundred year old man not to ride his bicycle?” The end of this was he said, “You take that bicycle away from him. He must not ride it anymore.” And so, we were at the Bank at the time and I said to Ezra, “After we leave, will you have the bicycle put down in the basement and the tires deflated.” And you know, I rather think Father was relieved. Everywhere we’d go in Salt Lake or anywhere people would say, “Bishop, do you still ride your bicycle?” I think he was relieved. He never did ask if he could get the bike back. And when people would say to him, he’d say “No, my daughter took it away from me.” He had an out, you see.
This was Amasa's last bike, a Schwinn 2-speed.
SIMPLE JOYS
29 – Games with Children
Nell Partridge
Many of those interviewed commented on Amasa’s joy in playing games with children, especially marbles.
He kept a very youthful spirit. He used to stop along the sidewalk and play marbles with the boys. And he kept a little jar of marbles for a long, long, time. And he loved to play ball. He was good at it. We would go down to the Fourth of July celebration and they would have these things where you hit a thing and dunk the man in the water. As soon as we would get anywhere near there the people would come to him, “Come on Amasa, come on Bishop.” They knew that he had a good hand. Even as he was getting on to a hundred then and he could ping a ball and knock that fellow off that perch.
30 – Shine On
Nell Partridge
One of Father’s outstanding characteristics was his love of little children and they returned the love. He used to go and just sit in the back at Primary or Sunday School just when they were having their song practice, just to hear the children sing. At his funeral, we had the Primary children and they sang his two favorite songs, “Shine On” and “Oh, It Is Wonderful.” He use to play “Shine On” and they would sing it.
Amasa was a member of the first Primary, depicted in this mural on the front wall of the Farmington LDS chapel.
31 – Watching Trains
Nell Partridge
Most of those interviewed mentioned Amasa’s love of trains. He liked to watch trains and assumed others did too, and often invited others along.
The first train that went from Salt Lake to Ogden, he got permission or he did do it, he sat out on the cow catcher. He sat there from Salt Lake and rode to Farmington. He loved a train. He loved to go there at the opening of Weber Canyon where he could see the train come around that curve and go up the canyon. He used to just love to go down to that station and watch the trains come in. And of course he assumed that everyone else did - of course, because it was such a great thing. And he used to take Mother in this wheel chair and push her down to where she could see the train come in. The simple things in life, he really enjoyed them.
AMASA and TAXES
32– Estate Tax
Hal Robinson
Amasa seemed to accept the need for taxes and was happy to pay his share. On the other hand, he saw a risk in leaving too much money to his children.
Toward the end of his life, we were trying to talk to him a little bit about settling his estate matters. I pointed out to him, when he was hesitating to sign a trust, that if he didn’t sign this the government was going to get a great amount of his money. And he said, “That’s alright, that’s alright. They’ll build some fine roads and some good schools.
33 – Tax Checks
Hap Robinson
Amasa’s daughter, Nell, saved a couple of his tax payment checks and, sure enough, they included notes similar to that described by Hap.
When he would write out his income tax check, he wrote on the bottom, “With pleasure” or “Willingly.”
AMASA AS DENTIST, MUSIC, MODESTY PINS
34 – Amasa as Dentist
Hal Robinson
Hal made it clear that this was serious business for the young patients.
My recollection of Amasy Lyman Clark is not as a banker. It is as a dentist. Before the turn of the century, I was introduced to Amasy Clark by my father, James H. Robinson, who was Amasy’s pal all during his early life. And I was taken over to the Davis County Bank where Amasy Clark pulled teeth. He kept a couple of faucets on a little old heater there and all the kids from the grammar school were taken there to get their teeth pulled. My father took me there before the turn of the century and I had teeth extracted. He was very careful. Nobody went with us. They sent us there as kids. Herald and I went together. Amasy’s son, you know, who was my pal. And we went in and he’d ask us which one ached or which one was loose and he’d put his hand on our head and yank it out.
35 – That’s What New Years Was
Nell Partridge
Amasa loved music and made the Messiah an annual tradition. This story also illustrates his conservative nature and his put others first attitude.
I think one of the other things that is almost legendary of Father is his love of music. Not only the hymns, which he just loved and I could see that his face was just radiant when they’d sing “Oh, It is Wonderful.” The spirit from his face would go all over the whole auditorium. But he loved classical music, too. Oh, indeed. He wouldn’t miss the “Messiah” for anything in the world. Why, that’s what New Years was, was the “Messiah.” I went with Father to the “Messiah” when he was a hundred and one years old. He was offered a seat down in front and he would not take it. “No,” he said, and we climbed up into the balcony and we were given some pretty good seats there and after a little while, a couple of ladies came in and Father said we could give them our seats and we sat on the steps. And he was a hundred and one years old.
36 – Modesty Pins
Nell Partridge and Ida Clark
Nell and Ida, alternating sentences, were very animated in the telling of the following. They had a lot of fun talking about it.
He was so modest. He thought women should be so modest. And he used to carry pins on the lapels of his coat. And he’d come up to one of us and if we had a dress cut as low as this one is (and you can see, that isn’t low) he wouldn’t say a word. He’d just reach up and get a pin and hand it to you. And I would have to pin the neck of my dress up. Well, I’ll tell you another thing, I’ve been with Mother [Amasa’s wife] when we were going along the street and she said, “Here comes Amasa. When we’re facing him, you be sure that you pull the dress down like this [she pulls down the back of her blouse] and when he’s at the back, pull it back in shape.”
AMASA’S DEATH
37 – Hello, My Father
Nell Partridge
This account of Amasa’s death was told with reverence. It is reminiscent of the account of Brigham Young’s death. Amasa had been in the hospital for routine tests. He fell from his bed at night, resulting in a broken pelvis. He died weeks later, on May 25, 1968, having never left the hospital.
The night he died was something one could never forget. It goes back into earlier in the day. He was very, very weak. He couldn’t even take any water. He just wet his lips. He couldn’t take any nourishment at all. They had discontinued the i.v. and all the injections at his request. He wanted to go. He had said to me two or three days earlier, “I’m ready to go.” He was wanting to wait for his birthday, but he said, “I’ve decided I don’t want to wait. I’m very tired and I want to go.” So, he was very clear in his head and he said, “I don’t want all of these things. I want to go.” So I said, “Father, you are going to have to tell the doctor that.” So, I told him and he said, “Well, I’ll bring another doctor in to hear it officially.” So, they took the i.v. out. That morning, he was a little restless. He would mouth it for a long time and finally he got the word “Clark” out. And I said, “Father, do you want me to send for my son, Clark?” And he just barely could shake his head, “No.” Two or three hours later, he said, “Ezra.” And I said, “Do you want me to send for Ezra from the Bank?” He said, “No.” Two or three hours later, he raised himself almost into a sitting position and his face was absolutely radiant. It just warmed the whole room. And he said, “Hello, my father Ezra T. Clark.” And he sank down into a coma and that was it. He lasted until three in the morning, but never regained consciousness.
Amasa’s father, Ezra T. Clark.
ET Clark’s Kids.
Back Row: Sarah, Susan, Laura and Nathan.
Front Row: Joseph, Edward, Wilford, Amasa, and Nathan.
The Annie Clark Tanner home built in 1901. Amasa and Susan lived here at 291 West State Street later in life.
Amasa was raised in this home at 368 West State Street. Built in 1856.
Amasa built this home at 290 West State Street in 1895, when he was about 30.
Story Tellers
Clark, Dale D.Amasa’s son. Worked at the Bank for about ten years.
Clark, EzraNephew. Served as Davis County Bank president. Went to the bank when Amasa was 97.
Clark, IdaDaughter-in-law. Married to Grant Clark.
Clark, RichardGrandson. Worked at the bank for many years with Amasa and served as Farmington Ward Bishop.
Clark, Rulon W.Nephew. Born in Farmington in 1893. Had a long career as an educator and judge.
Jones, De VaughnFormer Farmington mayor and Farmington Ward Bishop.
Kunz, John RServed several missions, including two to Australia where he heard a story of Amasa.
Partridge, NellDaughter
Robinson, Hal H.Also known as “H.H.” Lived in Farmington his entire life. Worked with Amasa in church and business.
Robinson, HapA close neighbor and friend. A dairyman. Served on the Davis County Bank Board.
Robinson, JannettaClose neighbor and friend and complier of A History of Farmington, Utah, written by her father, George Knowlton.