Homer B. Clark, 77, died April 5, 2008, at home.
At his request, there will be no service.
Homer was born on Oct. 27, 1930, at Torrington, Conn., to Homer and Marie Haas Clark. During his high school years, he broke horses for a local riding stable, including training horses to jump fences in preparation for the sport of fox hunting. After graduation he traveled West, finding work at the 3J Ranch in Clayton, N.M., as a horse trainer.
After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps as an aircraft armament mechanic, Homer married Mary Lou Lester at Litchfield, Conn. They moved to Davis, Calif., where he attended the University of California at Davis for two years to study animal husbandry.
His studies led to a position as assistant foreman at the Alvord Ranch in Harney County. There he acquired his first plane and his lifetime love and hobby of flying and building/remodeling home-built and experimental aircraft.
Homer was later hired by the BLM as a range technician and was sent to his first assignment in Baker City. He and Mary Lou fell in love with Baker City at first sight. They raised their three children on a small ranch on Pocahontas Road. The family enjoyed riding horses and motorcycles and flying airplanes off Homer’s dirt runway.
The last several years of his time were spent with rotor craft. He was very proud of the RAF 2000 he built and then converted to a Groen Bros. Sparrow Hawk. He so enjoyed visiting with his friends, the fellow pilots who would drop by his hangar to chat.
Survivors include his wife of 53 years, Mary Lou; daughters, Robbie Thompson, and her husband, Henry, of Portales, N.M., and Nancy Smurthwaite and her husband, Steve, of Boring; son, David of Pendleton; grandchildren, Ben and Amber and Candra Clark and Kelsey and Chad Smurthwaite; and his beloved Welsh corgis, Poncho and Rusty.
Memorial contributions may be made to Best Friends of Baker through Gray’s West & Co. Pioneer Chapel, 1500 Dewey Avenue, Baker City, OR 97814.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, April 8, 2008
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor