William “Bill” Zelma Clark Jr. died July 16 at the age of 90. He was born in Savannah, Tennessee, July 1st, 1932, to William and Mary Clark. When he was one year old, his family moved to just below Moundville, Alabama, and eventually to Moundville itself, where Bill was raised. There, he grew up learning how to work on machines with his father, fishing, and hunting with his bird dog Jock. For most of his life Bill was called simply Junior, and this nickname stuck even well into his adulthood. He met the love his life, Patricia, marrying her in 1966, and with her moved to Tuscaloosa, where they raised two boys. He worked at Sears, Roebuck in the Home Improvement division for many years, and on retirement devoted himself to volunteer activities, serving at DCH and delivering meals on wheels. Bill served the country he love in the United States Navy aboard the destroyer USS Sproston as a radio operator during the Korean War.
A Celebration of Life will be held Sunday, July 24, 2022, 2:30p.m. at Forest Lake United Methodist Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Bill had too many friends to count, and with Patricia was a member of Forest Lake United Methodist Church. He loved his wife with the complete, utter devotion that is typically confined to fairy stories, and told her so daily, reminding his sons with complete sincerity that she was the sweetest person in the world and that he was the luckiest husband on earth. Her untimely death from cancer in 2015 devastated him, though he continued his volunteer work for some years.
Bill is survived by his oldest son, Douglas, his youngest son, Phillip, a daughter-in-law Maiko, and his two grandsons, Taichi William and Sota Vincent, all of whom loved him dearly. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the American Cancer Society.
