Billy Fred Clark

Bill Clark first brightened the world on July 27, 1930 in New Orleans, Louisiana, and warmed everyone he met with legendary kindness, strength and grace until the moment of his passing on August 30, 2018.

Born to a teacher and a motorman on the New Orleans streetcars, Bill moved to Ellis County at age three, where he grew up on his family’s farm near his aunts and uncles. He attended first grade in a one-room school house, a far cry from the University of Houston, where he would later enroll as a student in civil and mechanical engineering.

Bill met the love of his life, Jeanine, in a physics class at Milby Senior High. Though at first she was in the front row and he was in back, one night the plaster in the ceiling gave way and they were moved to a new room beside one another. “I asked her for her phone number and life got a lot better from that time on,” Bill said.

Bill and Jeanine were married in 1948, and by 1952 had the first of their five beloved children. Bill pursued his degree part time while raising his young family; he worked at a paper mill, the highway department, and a firm that designed hydroelectric dams while taking classes at night and on the weekends. On at least one occasion, he found himself studying for final exams while waiting in the hospital for the birth of a daughter.

He received his BA in 1959, and soon after began an esteemed, 27-year career as an aeronautical engineer at Vought. He was a major contributor to an array of projects in Texas, Washington, and California, including the 747, the 757, and the B2 bomber. In his retirement, Bill and his wife pursued their shared passion of seeing the world. Over thirty years, their travels took them to every corner of the globe, from his ancestral home in Ireland to Turkish bazaars — always returning to Arlington to tend and support their ever-growing, close-knit family.

Bill was a guiding light for every member of the family he built; he was their hero and their role model, and he made the world a kinder, more thoughtful place by his very presence.

Bill is survived by his wife, Jeanine; children, Eileen (Allen), Mark (Dee), and Susan; his 9 grandchildren and 8 great-grand children. He was predeceased by his son David (Susan) and daughter Rebecca (Buddy).

A memorial service will be held Saturday, September 8th at 2PM, at Moore Funeral Home, 1219 N Davis Dr., Arlington, TX 76012.