K. Wesley Clark, 88, a resident of Severna Park, died on June 28, 2010 at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis.

He was born on June 9, 1922 in Washington, DC and raised in Baltimore, MD.

Mr. Clark served in the U.S. Army during WWII. He was employed as a banker for Union Trust Company for 30 + years.

He enjoyed painting and spending time with his family and friends.

He was preceded in death by his former wife, Audrey Jones Clark and his son, Douglas Clark.

Survivors include his wife of 36 years, Gladys L. Clark; sons, Stephen Clark of Rockville, Marc O'Carroll of Melbourne, Australia, and Paul O'Carroll of CA; daughter, Cynthia O'Carroll of Millersville; and four grandchildren.

Family and friends may visit from 4-7 pm on Thursday, July, 1, 2010 at Barranco & Sons, P.A. Severna Park Funeral Home, 495 Ritchie Hwy in Severna Park, with a wake service beginning at 6:00 pm. Interment will be private.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Disabled American Veterans, P.O. Box 14301, Cincinnati, OH 45250-0301.

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This was a note that Wes wrote in 1996 to his grandson, Perry. We wanted to share his thoughts in his own words with his friends and family.


March 1, 1996

I was born Kenneth Wesley Clark on June 9, 1922 in Washington D.C. I moved to South Baltimore, beg your pardon, Federal Hill when I was 3 years old. My father was a Swarthmore College graduate and a Foreman at Bethlehem Steel Co. He had a Stutz Bearcat touring sedan. When we went on a trip, my job was to use the hand pump on the dashboard to pump air into the gas tank. Remember this was in the early 20's. My mom was the typical homemaker, and my sweetheart, me being the only child.

I attended P. S. 33 on Light Street and had an uneventful 6 years, except for being punched out once in a while by one of the school bullies. On to Southern Junior High 7th grade, changing classes, roaming the halls, all that freedom. Summers were spent playing tennis at the Federal Hill Court with 3 of my friends. After we finished, we would jump into the harbor to cool off.

In High School I hung out with Gabby Kenneth Jennings and we divided our time between school, Louie's and English's.

The last 2 years of school I worked part time at the A&P next to Cross St. Market. My coworkers were, Gabby Jennings, Bill Smith, Nelson Buckley, and Jack Richards. We drove the Manager, Mrs. Thompson completely nuts.

Gabby and I wrote for the Courier school paper in our spare time, his column was "Goofy Glances" by Gabby; mine was "Wotta Week", by Wes. The editor didn't believe in freedom of speak and refused to let us use our friends' names in our columns.

Oh, yeah, can't forget the dates with the pretty girls! No car, a walk to the McHenry movies, then Arundel Ice Cream or Coopers Ice Cream, both on Light Street. Oh the good old days.

Finally out of school, my first job was with Commercial Credit Corp and then Bethlehem Fairfield Shipyard. I ended up going from office work to working on the ships as a helper in the Reaming, Drilling & Boating Dept. I decided to leave a few weeks before being drafted. I figured I would rather die for my country than Bethlehem Steel.

The army, God bless it and keep it –for someone else. My 3 years, 1 day, 1 hour and 30 minutes was enough for me. After basic at Miami Beach, rough, where I met Andy Graham and Gabby for one evening. I was sent to Administrative School at Mississippi Southern College in Hattiesburg, Miss. From there I was assigned to the Army Specialize Training Program and spent 2 months studying math at the Citadel in Charleston, South Caroline. From there to Queens College, Flushing, New York, to study engineering. This was a 4-year course to be completed in 2 years. Yeah, great idea! I am a commercial student into physics, chemistry etc. The program was cancelled, and I ended up in Oran, Algeria, in an Army cannon fodder, replacement depot.

Mrs. Schmidt typing class saved my butt. After 3 months of misery, I was sent to Caserta, Italy, North of Naples. I was assigned to the Mediterranean Allied Air Force, Adjutant General Cable Section as a jerk clerk. I ended up a Sergeant, but still a jerk. After 2 years overseas, in December 1945, I was finally going home, after I spent a month or so working in Naples, with Calvin Rahm as my 1st Sergeant.

Home, friends, parties, girls. I was only home a few months when I met my first love and steady girlfriend, Audrey Jones. After 2 years of courting, we were married and had an apartment in Walbrook Junction for three years before buying a house in Glen Burnie and having our first son Stephen. Four years later we had our second son Douglas. When we got married in 1948, I started my 34 years career at Union Trust Bank. I spent a 100 years going to night school at American Institute of Banking on Cathedral St. after dinner at the Alcazar Rathskiller. After a 3-year course I graduated from University of Virginia, Charlottesville School of Bank Management.

While at the bank, I was manager of the International Banking Dept. (we had translators), worked in the Investment Dept., completed Management Training Course, and took about 100 more in-house banking courses. I was a Branch manager, a Regional Business Development Officer, Small Business Loan Officer, and finally an Area Branch Supervisor. I retired in 1982 as a vice-president, amen.

In 1968 Audrey became ill with cancer and died in March 1971. She was 47 years old. A braver, non-complaining girl, I have never met.

Life stopped for me for two years before I met my second love, Gladys, the girl who saved my life. We were married, sold our homes in Glen Burnie, bought a house in Severna Park and are still there.

Gladys was widowed with 3 children, ages 6, 8 and 10. She managed to put her children though Catholic Schools and her oldest son through college before I met up with her. Quite a gal. Three of our children have bachelor degrees and two have masters.

In June 1979 tragedy struck again, when my youngest son Douglas was killed in an automobile accident at age 25. Some of my friends have had the same terrible experience. You never get over it, but you learn to live with it.

Between us we have 3 grandchildren, Perry in Washington D.C., Matthew in California and Nikki in Sydney, Australia.

Life goes on, and I love it.