James Morris Clark

Wednesday, March 23, 2022

James Morris Clark, 91, of Oak Island passed away on Wednesday, March 23, 2022, at home after a long, courageous battle with cancer. He was born on February 3, 1931, in Marshall County, West Virginia (WV) to the late Morris Thomas Clark and Evelyn Corine Greer, and grew up in Glendale, WV. He attended Moundsville High School, where he met the love his life, Mary Margret McCurdy, and they were married on July 14th, 1951.

Jim always had a sense of adventure, which he carried with him all his life. As a young man, he washed airplanes at a local airport where he secretly learned to fly before he could drive a car, at the age of 15. Always fascinated with mechanical and technical subjects, he enrolled in Marshall University in Huntington, WV, to study electronics from 1948 to 1950.

With the outbreak of the Korean War, Jim was called by his patriotic duty to interrupt his academic pursuits at Marshall and joined the Navy joined in 1951, serving 4 years aboard an LST1069 mine sweeper. In the Navy, he continued his electronics and telecommunication studies at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, and later at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. Upon leaving the Navy, he resumed his education with a degree in electrical engineering at West Virginia University, graduating in 1958. He then joined Western Electric and moved to Winston Salem, North Carolina.

Jim’s sense of adventure continued to pull him in his telecommunications profession across the globe, from the seas of the south pacific to the sands of Saudi Arabia, where he worked to establish the first microwave communication system on the peninsula, meeting and working with scientists and engineers from all over the world, including the King of Saudi Arabia.

When Jim retired in 1987 to Oak Island, he enjoyed many years of fishing and playing tennis with friends, on every court in Southport and Oak Island, before sitting down to solve the world’s problems over a cup of coffee on the front deck at Port City Java. Jim attended the Oak Island Presbyterian church, where he served as an elder, a deacon and directed the sound system for many a joyful service.

He is survived by his three children, Martin Lee Clark and wife Melanie of Stuart, VA, Gary Wayne Clark and wife Jillaine of Estes Park, CO, Janie Clark Miller and her husband Craig of Southport, NC, plus eight grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren.

A celebration of life will be held in his honor soon. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Lower Cape Fear LifeCare hospice house in Wilmington, where his wife Mary spent many an hour and prayer.

Donations may be made to Lower Cape Fear LifeCare, 1414 Physicians Drive, Wilmington, NC 28401 or at https://lifecare.org/donate.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.peacocknewnamwhite.com for the Clark family.