Donald Joseph “Don” Clark, Sr., age 94, passed away Thursday, July 8, 2021 at his home in Humble, Texas.
Don was born May 5, 1927 in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, New York to Harold and Eleanor Hansen Clark. He joined the United States Navy in 1942 and served proudly in the Atlantic and Pacific Theaters aboard the USS Snowden and USS Collett destroyers as Machinist’s Mate 3rd Class. The USS Collett earned six battle stars in the Pacific Theater. Don received ten service stars and participated in the liberation of the Philippine Islands.
On April 20, 1946, he married the love of his life, Jacqueline Ferguson, who he met at the USO in Orange, Texas where he was on a ship being decommissioned. They had three children and settled to raise their family in San Antonio.
After leaving the Navy, Don owned a TV repair shop. He later worked at Kelly Air Force Base as a contract administrator for F-102 aircraft.
Once retired, Don and Jackie loved to travel and visited 49 of the 50 United States. When asked why they never visited South Dakota, he simply said he didn’t have a reason to go there. Don and Jackie spent many summers in Winter Park, Colorado and took many cruises with family. Don enjoyed fishing, joining with other veterans daily for coffee and later in life stayed active playing golf with his son-in-law Ray.
He was preceded in death by wife, Jacqueline in 2016.
Don is survived by daughters, Donna and her husband Raymond, of Humble, Debra and her husband Erich, of Pearland, son Donald and his wife Jacqueline of San Antonio, eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren with two more on the way.
Don was proud of his military service and shared many stories of his World War II experience. As a child of the Great Depression who sometimes had little to eat, Don made sure the children ate first at family gatherings, a thing not lost to his children and grandchildren. He loved and was proud of his family and will be greatly missed.
Funeral service will be held August 6, 2021, 1:15 PM at Fort Sam Houston Cemetery, San Antonio, TX.