Visitation: 6:00 – 8:00 p.m., Thursday, October 12, 2017
Location: Weymouth Funeral Home
Interment: Private
Richard Thomas Clark, Jr., devoted husband, loving father, and enthusiastic grandfather died on October 8, 2017.
Tom, 78, was born on August 11, 1939 in Washington, DC, to Mary Marguerite Lloyd Clark and Richard Thomas Clark. The family returned to their native New York shortly after his birth, which is where Tom spent his formative years. He earned a Bachelor Degree in Marine Engineering from the State University of New York Maritime College and then accepted a position as a test engineer in the Polaris Submarine Program at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company. His career with the shipyard spanned nearly 42 years and he retired as a Master Shipbuilder in 2005 as Director of Production Engineering. Along the way, he earned a Master of Science in Engineering Management Degree from George Washington University and a PhD in Marine Engineering from Stanford University.
Tom married Nancy Lee Baker of Hampton on June 29, 1980, to whom he was absolutely devoted and considered his “best friend.” Together they raised three children from his previous marriage to Carol Alice Livingston of Mamaroneck, New York, and one child from Nancy Lee’s previous marriage to Richard Irving Brumback of Newport News. He was extraordinarily proud of their four children, their spouses, and their six wonderful grandchildren, and would use nearly any excuse to be with them and attend their activities. Tom loved to read and he loved to travel to the places that he fell in love with in his books. He and Nancy Lee enjoyed going on trips all over the world.
He is survived by his daughter, Laura Susan Clark Wentzel and her husband, Garth Frederick Wentzel, of Newport News, daughter Sandra Lynn Clark Hicks and her husband, Troy Alan Hicks, of York County, son Richard Thomas Clark III of Newport News, and his step-son Robert Baker Brumback and his wife, Donnelle Catherine Bever Brumback, of Newport News; and granddaughters, Ashley Marie Wentzel and Sandra Baker Wentzel of Newport News, Emmalynn Mae Hicks and Madelynn Marguerite Hicks of York County, and grandsons, Jackson Baker Brumback and Bennett Grant Brumback of Newport News; and his sisters Marguerite Perez, of Las Vegas, Nevada, and Mary Ellen Clark of Wheeling, West Virginia.
The family will receive friends from 6:00 pm to 8:00pm on Thursday, October 12, at the Weymouth Funeral Home, 12746 Nettles Drive, Newport News. Services will be private. Arrangements are under the care of Weymouth Funeral Home.