University of Wisconsin River Falls - Meletean Yearbook (River Falls, WI)

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MELETEAN Professor L. H. Clark Mr. Clark's resignation from the faculty of the Normal School startled us with a feeling of almost elemental loss. For twenty-eight years he has labored in our midst, working whole-heartedly and ably for the institution and for the welfare of the boys and girls in Wisconsin and neighboring states. So sure and constant has been his service that we can hardly contemplate the school without his presence. As the end of his service approaches, we feel keenly our loss and offer to him our tribute. In doing so it is fitting that we inquire concerning that part of his life that preceded his service with us. That and the portion we know so well, will, when joined with a third, constitute a goodly period of usefulness. Mr. Clark was bom February 26, 1852, in Clarendon, New York. He received his elementary training in his native state in the schools of Clarendon and Rochester. It was his lot to follow the migratory stream that has peopled the great Northwest, stopping now and then, as did many another, till the current swept him onward. He attended high school in Saginaw, Michigan, from 1865 to 1868. In the latter year he came to Wisconsin, and for four years lived on a farm in Green Countv. — 1920 — Pate io

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FACULTY In 1872, Mr. Clark was a student in Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois. He enrolled in 1875 as a student in the Whitewater Normal School, from which institution he was graduated in 1879. Mr. Clark’s enviable record as a teacher began in the public schools at Horicon, Wisconsin, where he was principal from 1879 to 1883. He spent the next three years in Toniah public schools, and the years 1886 to 1889 in the public schools of Sparta. After this service, he spent two years at Baraboo, Wisconsin, as superintendent of the city schools and principal of the high school. The opportunity to serve as High School Inspector came to Mr. Clark in 1891, and in this capacity he spent one year. The work of a high school inspector enables one to get a comprehensive view of the educational work in the state, to study its needs, to give inspiration to those in need of help, and to gain enthusiasm from others. In 1892. Mr. Clark came to River Falls as a teacher of mathematics. He has remained as head of the department continually since that time, and in all the years has enjoyed but one brief leave of absence. He has served the institution under every president but one; he has observed almost every phase of its upbuilding and has had a large share in its development. Mr. Clark’s life has stood for honest work. Nowhere can be found a more faithful and conscientious worker. No trouble has ever been too great for him to take in the interest of his classes. Every task and duty have always been promptly and efficiently executed. To this day no teacher in the school is quite so prompt and accurate in the performance of all duties and in the keeping of all engagements as is Mr. Clark. Mr. Clark has always placed his work, his duty, first. This ever present example of fidelity to duty through all of these years of service has had an influence in this institution greater than we can now calculate. While Mr. Clark has not the college degrees that many men boast, yet he was one of the most scholarly men in the school. Few, indeed, have read as widely as he. Possessing the natural instinct of a scholar, his reading and study have extended over a vast range. His studies have carried him far into the field of history, literature, and science, until his scholarship in these fields fairly rivals that of many a specialist. Mr. Clark has always held high the ideals of sound scholarship in this school. There has never been concern felt for the reputation of the school when credits from the Department of Mathematics were up for consideration. So precise has been Mr. Clark’s knowledge of his subject, so conscientious has he been in his performance of his work as a teacher, so keen in the study of the art of teaching, that his department has stood out for its excellence. Mr. Clark’s resignation is a loss to the school that cannot be repaired. His rich life has endowed him with a thousand interests that will keep him forever young, and in his new home on the great Columbia he may find equal delight in raising apples and pears of high quality as he has found pleasure in the training of teachers of superior quality. — 1920 — p t a