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Note: Elmer Dawson Clark was born on February 14, 1918 at Grapeland, Houston County, Texas to Johnny Burr Clark and Eva Jewel Williams Clark. He had 4 older brothers (John E Clark, George Edward Clark, Vernon Luther Clark {Bigon} and Olan B Clark {Dick}) and one older sister (Ora D Clark Yates). Dick and Ora were twins.
He attended school at Enon and Grapeland. In 1935 and 1936 hi lived in a dugout while working on a ranch in West Texas. He returned to East Texas in 1934 and went to work for the Missouri and Pacific Railroad on the bridge gang.
On Christmas Eve of 1938, he married Stella Mae Lock and they lived in a house trailer he built and moved with the railroad crew until 1942. Doris Ann Clark Reed was born in January, 1941, and James Harlon Clark was born in October, 1942. The trailer that started out small got even smaller.
In 1942, he took a job in Houston for the Houston Ship Yards and later the Brown Ship Yards. Eddie Earl Clark was born in August, 1944. Elmer was drafted into the Navy in 1945, and served a short stint at San Diego, until receiving a medical discharge. From 1945 to 1948, he operated an automotive garage in Palestine, Texas.
In 1948 he took a job with Shell Oil Company in Deer Park, Texas and later that year moved the family to South Houston, Texas. He worked for Shell as a labor foreman until he retired in 1971. Much of the time at Shell was spent as a mechanic, but in the last years of his employment, he was a maintenance foreman of the spur railroad in the plant.
In Palestine, he was a member of the South Side Baptist Church. He became a member of the First Baptist Church of South Houston in 1948, and attended there ever since.
In 1954 he was raised as a Master Mason in South Houston Lodge #1295 and served as Worshipful Master there in 1962/63. He is a 32 degree York Rite Mason, a 32 degree KCCH Scottish Rite Mason, a member of the Royal Order of Ducks, and a member of the Past Masters Club in the Shrine. In 2004/5 he was awarded the Golden Trowel award from the South Houston Lodge #1295.
He had a passion for Volkswagons and built 3 VW trikes in his 80s. He restored a 1963 VW and drove it daily. He could build, rebuild and restore anything on wheels. He also built the homes the family lived in.
He and Stella's family include three children and their spouses, nine grandchildren and their spouses and 18 great-grandchildren.
In these 89 years of his life he has done a lot of work, and a lot of fishing, hunting, camping, traveling, and even motorcycle riding. He tried to pass on to his children and grand-children his love of travel. He visited each of the fifty states, Canada, Mexico, and toured Europe and the Holy Lands. He was a wonderful Christian husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather.
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