LeRoy Douglas Clark

White Rock, SD

1940-41, 2750, Fruitdale (Orman Dam), B-2, Ass't Leader

U.S. Veteran LeRoy Douglas Clark was born in White Rock South Dakota on June 21, 1922 to Edward Lucias Clark and Della Julia Carl-Clark at the family home. LeRoy had seven brothers; Bertram, Edward, Lawrence, Ernest, JC, Ingwer and Darcy, two sisters; Delphine and Ethlyn, all preceded him in death. Leroy Clark died June 23, 2014.

He attended White Rock Elementary along with his siblings. Lots of stories have been shared about his school days. Many of those days were spent on horseback – never quite making it to the classroom.

LeRoy had a variety of jobs as a young boy; he was seen chauffeuring local town folk across counties at the age of 6. You would also find LeRoy at the Wheaton Race Track where he enjoyed jockeying for a Florida breeder traveling through; he spent many nights in the barns at the track.

In 1938 he went to work at a CC Camp in the Black Hills of South Dakota, doing hard labor and cooking for the crews.

Shortly thereafter he shared a ride to Washington State, traveling down the coast to California. He found work along the way to keep himself going; picking fruit in Yakima, farm labor in Olympia, gathering peas for harvest in Portland, and a cable factory in San Francisco. At that time, news of the war broke; he hopped a bus and headed home to the Dakotas.

In 1941, he went to work for Westside Motors. He and his boss dined frequently at the Belmont where they could get a great meal for .25 - .45 cents. Besides a great meal, he had eyes for one of the waitresses, Ferne Lee.

LeRoy enlisted in the Army in 1943. After preparation and training, he shipped out overseas and served in the Southern Philippines Island of Luzon and Tateyama Japan with the 148th Field Artillery Battalion. His service to our country earned him various metals. During a short military leave, he returned home, stopped in at the Belmont where Ferne Lee was still waitressing. She had graduated high school and attending the State Teachers College in Mayville North Dakota. She completed her degree and taught at The Kindred School, grades K-12, a one room school house. LeRoy and Ferne courted and were married on June 25, 1946 at Bethel Lutheran Church in Wahpeton North Dakota.

The couple moved to Washington in 1948, working farm jobs until his Civil Service career began at Fort Lewis Post Engineers; LeRoy retired 25 years later. He then started his trucking business and also drove school bus for the Olympia School District part-time. Ferne worked for the State of Washington, various divisions and retired in 1985. LeRoy sold his trucking business and retired a second time. The two of them had many good years (68 married years) together; enjoying their yard and gardens, traveling, cruising, and quality times with family and friends. LeRoy loved the outdoors, his many Westport and the Columbia and Cowlitz Rivers fishing trips, and big game hunting.

LeRoy is survived by his wife Ferne of 68 years, two sons; LeRoy Jr (Sue) and Kingsley, three daughters; LaDeen Thompson (Rollie), Julia Gault (Fred), and Shelley Clark, eight grandchildren and fourteen great-grandchildren.

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