Elwood H Clark

Elwood H Clark passed away July 17, 2023 at the age of 92, of causes incident to age.

He was born November 4, 1930 on Election Day at home in Liberty, Utah to Walter (Ott) Clark and Zenna Elizabeth Hill, the youngest of eight children.  His childhood was filled with hard work and a strong and loving family where fell in love with the horse-part of farming, riding at the age of three along side his dad as he plowed the fields and worked on the farm.  He often commented that the horse was often his babysitter along with many doting sisters and his oldest brother.

At age three he was encouraged to share his gift of song and performed his first stage solo at church, with the coaching of his sister. He freely shared his beautiful singing voice to all who asked from then on, singing for family, church, weddings, funerals, quartets, choirs and community events.  He attended Liberty and Ogden Schools, riding a horse to school his first year.

In 1950 he served an LDS mission to the Northern States, establishing a scriptural foundation and lifetime friendships.  Upon his return he attended Brigham Young University.  He hitchhiked home for visits and one weekend on a group date saw the beauty, Joyce Hunter.  He made sure to sit by in the car ride home from the dance.  They were married June 23, 1954, celebrating 56 years of marriage.

At BYU he studied Agriculture Economics while working full-time at the State Mental Hospital while Joyce became a full-time mother to Anne and Daniel. Upon graduation, his Thirty Year career with the Bureau of Reclamation commenced in Spanish Fork.  Leslie and Mary Ellen were born there before he was promoted to the Salt Lake City Office, where he continued to work on water resource projects throughout the Mountain West.

The helped build their Kaysville house in 1969 where he was able to keep and train horses, grow a large garden and enjoy over 50 years there.

Elwood was an adventurer near and far, visiting five continents and over thirty countries, Joyce getting them around with her map and planning skills for many of these travels.  He went to China for several months with a team of Engineers in 1981, before tourism had opened up in the outskirts.  He worked in Africa several times to help them with complicated water projects, which Utah projects prepared him for.

They were devoted members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving in the Bountiful Temple, at the Conference Center including during the Olympics.  Elwood served as the first counselor in the Cape Verde Islands where Joyce helped the young missionaries with their physical and emotional health.  He was able to take his horse to the Martin’s Cove Mission where he was the Pony Express Rider.

Elwood enjoyed training his own horses and was able to swing up on the saddle without a stirrup, using one hand on the saddle horn until around 80 years old, and ride up until age 88.  He also shoed horses and was a lay veterinarian.

Joyce passed away on January 11, 2010.  He married Sara Ann Dearden in 2013.  She passed away in 2019.

Survived by four children: Anne Jensen(Darell), Daniel Clark, Leslie Warren (Michael), and Mary Ellen Chitwood (Ric), 19 grandchildren and twenty-four great-grandchildren.

He left behind big boots and a place in our hearts which cannot be filled.  Thank you for being “Bigger Than Life”, yet down to earth and almost always interesting and entertaining.

Funeral services will be held Wednesday, August 2, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. at Lindquist’s Layton Mortuary, 1867 No. Fairfield Rd., Layton, Utah.  Friends may visit with family Tuesday, August 1, from 6 to 8 p.m. and Wednesday from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the mortuary.

Interment, Liberty Cemetery.

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