Linda Major Clark

"Miss Purity"

Junior Class Treasurer 54,55; Junior Play 54,55;

Liberty Bell Editor 55,56; National Honor Society

55;Spectator Staff 55,56

Fifty years ago, I had to leave Liberty to move to Fort Worth, Texas, and attend Texas Christian University because my father had secured a job at what some people called the “bomber plant.?nbsp; Although I had only been in Liberty for three years, I loved the school and community and could not imagine what Texas, nor Texans, would be like.

At TCU I met my future husband, Tony Champ Clark, who was also a journalism major, and we began an adventure.

Before I became a teacher, I worked in advertising and public relations, on publications (I had edited the TCU yearbook, The Horned Frog.), at the Fort Worth Savings and Loan, The Fort Worth Museum of Modern Art, as the director of the Paris and Lamar County YWCA, as a legal assistant, and a book store owner.

Our daughter, Karen Lin Clark, was born in 1960 and our son, Todd Aaron Clark, was born in 1966. Karen has been a successful journalist for nearly twenty years, but has recently made a major change and is going to seminary to become a Methodist minister. She and her husband Jeff have a son, Ryan Ristine who will be five in August. They live in San Diego.

Todd and his family: Kristi, Katie, and Haleigh live in Austin, Texas where Todd practices law. Kristi is a stay-at-home mom, after also practicing law. She decided that the twins needed her at home. Katie and Haleigh will be 13 in August. When Tony retired in 1998, we moved from Arizona to Georgetown, Texas so we could be near family. Since Tony was a native Texan we didn’t consider any other state!

After taking 23 years to get a B. A., I began my teaching career in 1984 at Paris High School. While there I taught yearbook journalism and English. Tony taught at Paris Junior College for 19 years. When we moved to Arizona in 1990, because of Tony’s opportunity to teach at Scottsdale Community College, I taught English part time in the Mesa District. Because I wanted a full time job, I accepted a contract to teach English and do the yearbook on the San Carlos Apache Reservation. Tony and I met on weekends either in Mesa or on the REZ, as the kids called it. We also had the summers together.

The first year we were in Georgetown, I substituted, and was hired the next year full time to teach sophomore English. The gifted and talented students taught me a great deal those last few years.

Some of you may remember my mother Zoe Major. She will be 88, June 26, lives alone in Grove, Oklahoma and still drives. You probably remember the party at our house after the prom. It was Mother and Dad’s idea, not mine.

I retired three years ago, not that I wanted to, but I was 65! I’m glad I did retire because Tony and I spent our time together going to ball games, plays, sporting events, Katie and Haleigh’s events, and going to Creede, Colorado where we went every summer.

As some of you know, being a widow or widower is harder than anyone can imagine if they have not experienced it. I got very supportive notes from several of you when Tony was in Houston in the hospital for surgery and after his death. Thank you! He died December 15, 2005.

I miss him terribly, but the physical pain in my chest has gone away to some extent. Belief in God helps me. Friends and family help in many ways. Tutoring elementary students helps. Tutoring high school students helps. Going to Mass helps. Going to the Adoration Chapel helps. Tony’s dog, Chance, helps and comforts me.