Romance spans 88 years, five generations

SHEFFIELD — It was a romance for the ages, spanning 88 years and five generations. As the couple grew older, it became their passion to share their love story. Glenda (Colton) Clark would pass away a year before her husband, but Bill Clark continued working on their tale until the end. The result was "Our Story: 78 Years Married,'' which was independently published and is available through Amazon. Growing up during the Depression in rural Braceville, Bill Clark met Glenda Colton when they were seated next to each other in elementary school. "Mom was born in 1925, and Dad was born in 1926," said son Jim Clark, of Brecksville. "Mom had an illness in third grade that kept her out of school and she had to repeat that year. That's the first time they met. To hear them tell it, it was instant chemistry. They were together 88 years after that, married for 78." Bill Clark and Glenda Colton were inseparable as school children, eventually becoming romantically involved in high school, even playing husband and wife for the senior play. But as World War II played out on distant shores, their own marriage became trickier. "Dad was valedictorian of his senior class and was selected for the V-12 training program for young, intellectual men to become military officers," Jim Clark said. "He joined the Navy in June after graduation and secretly married mom because those in the training program weren't allowed to be married." The war ended. The V-12 program ended. And Bill Clark went into basic training as an enlisted man, spending two years in the Navy on the West Coast. Glenda Clark remained in Ohio, where she had the couple's first child, Cheryl Clark, of Sheffield Lake, in 1946. Jim Clark was born two years later. During the V-12 program, Bill Clark had started attending Baldwin-Wallace College. After he returned from the West Coast, he finished his schooling, graduating in 1948. His first job out of school was teaching math and science at Clearview High School and coaching football, basketball and baseball from 1948 to 1951. From there he went to Riverside High School in Painesville, Lincoln High School in Cleveland, Mansfield State College in Mansfield, Pennsylvania, and Bay Village High School, where he taught and coached from 1955 to 1963. He earned his doctorate from The Ohio State University in the late 1960s and worked as a physical education professor and head basketball coach at Baldwin-Wallace from 1967-1977. He went on to become an administrator for Ash Harbor High School in 1977, retiring in 1987. Glenda Clark was a hands-on mom who worked in various jobs that allowed her to be around for her family. As a young grandmother, she went to college earning a teaching degree and went to work as an educator for more than two decades. But Glenda Clark was always by her husband's side and could often be seen on the sidelines photographing his games. The couple moved to Pagosa Springs, Colorado, after Bill Clark retired and lived in a house they built on the top of a mountain for 19 years. While there, they were instrumental in establishing a fire department, which eventually grew to five stations. As they got older, they made the decision to return to Ohio in 2005, moving to Sheffield. "They were very involved in the community when they came back," Jim Clark said. "Every Wednesday they would visit people who were homebound and they began a pingpong organization that's still in existence today. But they never left their love of basketball." The couple would travel anywhere for a game. And everything they did, everywhere they went, Glenda Clark would write about it, journaling their everyday events. "They decided they wanted to tell their story and spent four years writing it together," Jim Clark said. "When Mom died in December 2022, Dad dove into writing the book in the last year of his life. He would spend four or five hours typing, one finger typing. At the end, Dad was racing to finish. He didn't. As he was dying, he said, 'Jim, you're going to have to finish it for me.'" And that's what he did, spending about two years editing the final product. Although there wasn't much to correct, the real issue was that there was so much detail. "If I spent another year on it, I might split it into three books," he said. "It's part love story, part historical document and part about enduring relationships. They had such a colorful life and both of them were very family oriented. This is part of their legacy and they wanted to pass it on." As is often the case when children get an inner glimpse of their parents, Jim Clark said the story gave him a different perspective on his own life. "My father was always the one who received lots of accolades, awards and trophies," Jim Clark said. "When I read the book, I realized how much she contributed to his success. It really had an impact on me how strong their relationship was. There were romantic things they continued to do for each other that I had no idea about until I read the book." With two children, four grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren, there is definitely a legacy. "Our Story: 78 Years Married'' by Bill and Glenda Clark is available onAmazon. Contact Christina Jolliffe at ctnews@chroniclet.com.