Martin Clark

A private burial was held at Piney Grove Cemetery in Swannanoa, NC; a memorial service will be held at River Landing on September 16 at 2:00 pm.

The son of William Martin Clark of Nashville, TN and Helen McKinney of Cordele, Georgia, Martin was born August 16, 1930 in Birmingham, AL and grew up in Chattanooga, TN. He graduated from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1953 with a BS in Electrical Engineering and was a member of several Honor Societies and Sigma Chi fraternity. He worked for Bendix Radio in Maryland for one year developing the Talos missile system, then served in the U.S. Army from 1954-56 as a Lieutenant in the Signal Corps at White Sands Missile Range and at Sandia Base in New Mexico. He attended graduate school at Vanderbilt University from 1956-57 and received an MS in Electrical Engineering from NC State College in 1960. He married Julia Mitchell in Greensboro, NC in 1961.

From 1957-87 Martin was employed by AT&T Bell Laboratories in both North Carolina and New Jersey, working as Supervisor of the Nike Hercules anti-aircraft missile systems group and then on development of digital switching for telephone transmission systems. After retiring from Bell Labs he spent five years as Professor of Mathematics at Montreat-Anderson College in Montreat, NC. He then worked for two years at Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh, NC as Dean of the Engineering Technology Division. During residencies in Burlington, NC; Chatham, NJ; Black Mountain, NC; and Hendersonville, NC he served as an Elder in both Presbyterian and Christian & Missionary Alliance churches and on various missions committees.

Martin was preceded in death by his sister, Helen C. Hawkins, of Albany, GA. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Julia M. Clark; daughters Laura Zhao serving in China with husband Jian An; Helen Overmyer and husband John of Littleton, CO; and five grandchildren and eight foster grandchildren.

Martin was gentle and kind and will be remembered for his many acts of service.

Memorial contributions in Martin’s name may be made to “Presbyterian Homes Foundation” for the River Landing Employee Scholarship Fund with “RL Scholarship” noted, 1575 John Knox Drive, Colfax, NC 27235.