CLARK, Mr. F.O.

CLARK

Posted By: Volunteer: Sherri
Date: 7/17/2013 at 16:06:17

A GOOD MAN'S LIFE ENDED.

It has been well said that the lives of the good are written in the memories of their friends, and it is true of all except the few who gain unusual prominence in the world. The death of F.O. Clark, at Washington city last Saturday, removed from life one of the best men of our acquaintance, yet he was almost peculiar in some of his beliefs. He believed in spiritualism, not in the spiritualism of the professionals who deceive the people with trickery of every imaginable character, but that the spirits of departed friends are able to in some way communicate with their living friends. That belief was a source of comfort to Mr. Clark for many years, and he never hesitated to express his faith in that kind of spiritualism. Many of us have reason to believe that his velief was well founded, yet fail to have the courage to sustain that belief by public declaration. Mr. Clark was also peculiar in his political view, in the tenacity with which he adhered to his convictions without regard to party lines and without losing repsect for the convictions of his friends. He was a man of lasting friendships and unyielding honor, and that was the kin of a life the good man lived.

When Mr. Clark returned from Washington, early last October, he told us of an agreement he entered into years ago, with some man whose name has escaped our memory, that the last survivors of the two men was to write the obituary of the first one that died, and it is probably that that agreement will be carried into effect. During that call at The Register office Mr. Clark told of the rare pleasure of the visits he and Mrs. Clark had just concluded with their friends at Washington city, Pennsylvania, and at the old home in Franklinville, N.Y., where they were boy and girl together. They had lived their early lives over again and concluded arrangements by which they were to remain in Washington city for a year or more. They had lived alone for many years since their retirement from business, therefore they had grown old together and the final parting was a very severe shock to Mrs. Clark. Fortunately a number of relatives and friends were present to extend sympathy and assistance in the sudden bereavement. They have been residents of Iowa for forty-two years, and wherever they have lived they have gained friends who will be friends as long as their memories exist. That is the best evidence that they have lived good lives, and that the dead friend we have known for nearly a third of a century will not be forgotten while memory surivives.

Source: Van Buren Co. Genealogical Society Obituary Book C, Page 149, Keosauqua Public Library, Keosauqua, IA