Alma Card Clark

BURLEY – Alma Card Clark, age 100, passed away peacefully in Burley, Idaho, on Sunday, February 6, 2022, just two weeks shy of his 101st birthday.

He was born in Afton, Wyoming, February 20, 1921, to Alma Porter and Lavinia Irene (Card) Clark. He grew up in humble circumstances in Wyoming (mainly Star Valley) and Utah, with two older sisters, two younger brothers, and three younger sisters. Though raised in the often rough and tumble environment of a ranch, their home was a place of music, literature, hard-work, strong family relationships and church service. Those hardscrabble days significantly molded Alma into an adventuresome, inventive and risk-taking young man. After graduating from Afton High School, he attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, for three quarters (1940 – 1941), where, in a social dance class, he met the love of his life.

On August 12, 1941, he married Elizabeth Hanks of Burley, in the Logan Utah Temple. After marriage, he served in the Eastern States Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1941 – 1943). Upon his return, he and Beth lived temporarily in Star Valley; and then Menan, Idaho, before settling in Burley for the rest of their lives. All nine of their children were born in Burley or in Rupert, Idaho. Card, as he was called in his early years, soon demonstrated his innovative tendencies when he seized an opportunity to become a house mover when the Paul, Idaho, POW camp was being disbanded and some of the structures were sold to soldiers coming home from WW II. This initial success in helping veterans establish new farms and homesteads in Magic Valley led to further involvement when he began relocating most of the barracks from the Minidoka Relocation Center (commonly remembered as Hunt), one of many internment camps where Japanese-Americans were detained during the war. Soon thereafter, he tried his hand at farming, dairy equipment sales, several more ventures in house moving and then land development. Not the conventional businessman like many, he saw opportunities where others did not. After moving 150 homes from Mountain Home, Idaho, to BYU in the mid-1950s, he ventured into another promising enterprise in Stibnite, Idaho. While recovering from the financial set-back it caused to his fortunes, he secured an appointment as Cassia County Assessor, a post he held for almost a decade. During this experience, he developed a keen interest in land and mining development, and was among the first to perceive the production potential of land in Golden Valley as well as other undeveloped sectors of Cassia County. Following his stint in local politics, he was appointed to the newly established Idaho State Tax Board of Appeals, a position he held for seven years. He considered this one of his most rewarding professional experiences as he had a hand in hearing more than 450 cases and was often the person who wrote the legal opinions, though he was the only non-lawyer on the board. Along life’s pathway he established relationships with many like-minded entrepreneurs, patriots, and otherwise “interesting characters,” as his children remember thinking of them. His life seemed always full of new adventures, risks, some rewards, new ideas, and unexplored frontiers, all of which he eagerly pursued knowing that the household was being managed by a faithful, devoted, and family-centered woman who preferred staying at home over travel and adventure!

While perhaps “one-of-a-kind” in his business interests and public dealings; he was rather conventional and clear in serious expressions of belief, be they religious, political, patriotic or issues of personal behavior and morality. He was a valiant member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving faithfully in many positions, from full-time missionary as a young man to many leadership callings in ward and stake positions. He was the bishop of the Burley Fourth Ward when the building on East 16th Street was constructed. He always felt that by being proactive in the approval and construction phase, he and Bishop Lyman Martindale of the Second Ward, saved thousands of donated dollars and many months of delay in approval procedures.

As recorded in his autobiography, one of the great satisfactions in his life was to realize he had been blessed enough to support all nine children in college and missionary service. The missionary zeal he carried throughout life led to many assignments with Beth as his companion. Together they served locally as name extraction missionaries, later in Christchurch, New Zealand; Papua, New Guinea; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Even Alma’s horseshoe-pitching hobby didn’t inhibit his desire to share the message he revered in the Book of Mormon. He gave away hundreds of copies to many horseshoe-pitching peers with whom he competed in regional and national contests.

His almost innate travel fever and interests in land development, mining, gemstones, and other enticing opportunities carried him to most of the states in the Union and to many foreign countries, including: Mexico, Belize, Pakistan, Philippines and Israel – all this in addition to his missionary experiences “down under.” Where most saw boundaries and limits, he did not; so his world view was often larger and more inviting than others perceived. Even as a youth, this aptitude was evident in the toys he created for himself, in the old cars he modified for personal pleasure and travel, in a ski-mobile he invented in high school that many consider the pre-cursor to the modern snowmobile, and in many other innovative ideas manifest in his many and varied commercial ventures. There were few things he wouldn’t try and never shied from attempting to fix any problem he encountered, from a broken pipe to a wrecked airplane.

Aviation was a passion of his since first hearing on the radio, as a six-year old living in Star Valley, of Charles Lindberg’s successful 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Many family members and friends have personal memories of rides with him in one of more than 40 different aircraft he owned during his normally earth-bound life. He made his final flight on Sunday, February 6, peacefully passing away at Parke View Rehabilitation and Care Center in Burley.

He is survived by seven of their nine children, Charles (Dianne) Clark of Burley, Kathryn Tompkins of Rydal, Georgia, Steven (Luanne) Clark of Pocatello, and Moapa, Nevada, Gordon (Janet) Clark of Boise, John (Sandy) Clark of Orem, Utah, Ellen Clark of Logan, Utah, and Chiang Mai, Thailand, and Paul (Tondee) Clark of Boise. Also surviving are his sisters, Wanda Limb of Boise, Myrna Dutson of St. George, Utah, and Geraldine Johnson of Hurricane, Utah; as well as 45 grandchildren and 148 great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Elizabeth; parents, Alma Porter and Lavinia Clark; sisters, Joyce (Charles) Elzinga and Barbara (Fred) Bassett; brothers, Allan Paul Clark and Dean Calvin Clark; a daughter, Anne (Dennis) Heiner; a son, Antone Lee Clark (Cindy); a son-in-law, Don (Kathryn) Tompkins; four baby grandchildren, Elizabeth, Marjorie, J. T. Clark, and Emberly Joy Clark; and extended in-laws, Ray and Barbara (Hanks) Graham, Marian Hanks (Harris), Morgan (LuAnn) Hanks, Howard (Melba) Hanks, Richard (Mavis) Hanks, Marian (Ed) Harris, Morris (Helen Hanks) Dastrup, and Carolyn (David) Hanks.

The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, February 19, at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Burley Fourth Ward, located at 515 E. 16th St., in Burley. Burial will follow at Pleasant View Cemetery in Burley.

Family and friends will be received from 5 until 7 p.m. Friday, February 18, at Rasmussen-Wilson Funeral Home, 1350 E. 16th St., in Burley, and from 10 until 10:45 a.m. Saturday, preceding the funeral, at the church.

Any special sentiment or gift may be directed to the staff at Parke View Rehabilitation and Care Center for the 6½ years of special care they extended to Alma during his last years with them, and us.

A live webcast of the Funeral Service will be available and maintained at the following link: https://youtu.be/55bF4gTekww.