Donald Clark , 96
KENTON - Donald Clark of Kenton, Del., born on October 31, 1923, passed away peacefully on June 24, 2020, with loving family at his side. He was 96 and had survived Ruth, his wife of seventy years, who had predeceased him the year before.
Donald was born on the family farm near Kenton and grew up there. He attended school in Kenton and Smyrna before transferring to Dover High because of its agricultural program. With World War II underway, he graduated a semester early and enlisted in the Army Air Corps hoping to become a pilot. There, he passed the entrance exam for pilot training, and became a C-47 Troop Carrier Pilot assigned to the European Theater. At the conclusion of the War, he remained in the Army Air Corps in Europe. Post-war, he primarily transported POWs and displaced persons throughout Europe.
After returning to Delaware in August 1946, he served as a civilian pilot instructor for a short time before starting his own crop dusting business. At its peak, Clarks Spraying Service had six aircraft and Donald hired fellow Army Air Corps veterans to help him dust tomato crops and perform statewide mosquito control spraying. In one interesting story (with a happy ending) and for which he had photographic evidence, one of his pilots hit the first television antennae in Dewey Beach while spraying for mosquitoes and crashed into the side of what is now the Bottle & Cork -- the pilot and bystanders fortunately walked away without injury.
In the mid-1950s, he sold his crop dusting business and used the proceeds to found Clark Seed Company, which the family still operates. While there, among other things, he pioneered the development of hybrid seed corn on the Delmarva Peninsula. While he farmed and ran his seed business, he also served on the board for two local banks and later the Advisory Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank in Philadelphia. He also served on the Kenton, and then Smyrna School Boards for a combined thirteen years. He was a charter member of VFW Post 8801, a member of American Legion Post #14 in Smyrna, and was a long time member of the Clayton Lions Club. In 1982, he was first elected as the 29th District's Representative and served in the General Assembly for twelve years. While there, he chaired the Agriculture Committee and served on the Small Business and Natural Resources Committees. After retiring from his seed business and politics, Donald volunteered as a tour guide at the Air Mobility Command Museum at Dover Air Force Base. His missions with U.S. Army Flight Nurses in the War spurred him to further research their wartime role. While at the museum, he worked hard to give them the recognition they deserved.
Donald was proud of his family most of all. In addition to being a loving husband, father and grandfather, he was a great story teller with an incredible recollection for detail. In the same session, for instance, he would tell family about the officer in the tent next to him at a given airfield in France in January 1945, his single crop dusting near-accident involving a telephone wire, his worry over paying his bills and supporting his family in his earlier years, mistakes he made in business, research and work regarding hybrid seed corn during a particular trip to Iowa, and the exciting details of his most recent trip to Dutch Wonderland with his grandchildren.
Donald will be missed by his family and friends. He is survived by his four children, Karen Kowinsky (Fred), Donald J. Clark (Gwen), Gary Clark, and Jeffrey Clark (Kristen). He is also survived by five grand children, Jodi Kowinsky, Paige Clark, Thomas Clark, Mitchell Clark, and Katherine Clark. His brother Bruce Clark (Pat), two nieces, Patrice Scuse (Michael), Faith Grant (Brian), nephew B.C. Clark (Christa), and their children also survive him.
The family suggests that friends consider donating to the Kenton United Methodist Church in lieu of sending flowers.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the service will be private.
Condolences may be sent by visiting www.fariesfuneralhome.com.