Roots
David B. Clarke was born in Mandeville on the April 5, 1919. His mother Lucy Clark (nee Shalders) who his father met while in Brazil, died when he was a year old, and his father, Raymond Clark, was a missionary who left shortly thereafter to Lima, Peru. As a result, he was raised by his grandparents, William Clark, who was the Resident Magistrate for Manchester, and his wife Lillian. David Clark had many relatives in the Mandeville and Kendal area. One was Oscar Lord, who started Moorlands Camp, still a thriving and growing Christian summer camp today. There was also Arthur Lord of Mandeville and Ernest Clark, of Kendal, who were in the cattle and agricultural businesses. Incidentally, Ernest Clark’s sons Ernest Jnr. and Stephen also attended Munro.
Young David attended Diocesan College in Mandeville (later known as DeCarteret College) then spent two years at Boarding School in England and returned home in 1933 and was sent to Munro College. He took and passed his Senior Cambridge Examinations and graduated from Munro College in 1936, that was eighty years ago.
His Calling
He started his first job with Bank of Nova Scotia at the main branch in Kingston, working with the renowned Derek Franklin. He did not stay long in banking, as he became an ordained minister of the Missionary Church Association in 1941, that was seventy five years ago.
David left Jamaica to attend business college in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the United States, and there met his wife, Helen, who was attending Bible College. He felt God calling him to the ministry and gave up business college and his ambitions to go into the Jamaican family businesses. He graduated instead from Fort Wayne Bible College. The Missionary Church asked him to start and nurture churches in Jamaica. He returned home and was a Pastor at Devon Missionary Church, Mandeville Missionary Church, and First Missionary Church of Kingston, before starting Grace Missionary Church in 1956, all of which are still very active today.
David Clark also had a Christian radio program, called The Grace Hour, on Radio Jamaica (RJR) for many years. This was a popular program for the Christian community in Jamaica and made the Rev. David Clark a household name in Jamaica. He was also instrumental in starting the Jamaican Theological Seminary in Kingston and brought the Caribbean Billy Graham Crusade to Kingston in 1958, at which Leighton Ford preached five nights, and Billy Graham preached the last two. The Billy Graham Association returned to Jamaica on two further occasions with Leighton Ford and Ralph Bell.
David also orchestrated the purchase of Kendal from the Clark family, and helped to set up, build and create the Kendal Camp Centre under the Missionary Church Association, which is still today being used by many different denominations for conventions and other large gatherings.
He is currently “semi-retired” as he still is very involved in teaching weekly Bible classes in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA, where his wife, Helen (ninety six), and three daughters and their families also reside. David is today the oldest living Munronian, and though he would truly love to come back and visit Munro College, he no longer travels far distances. However, at ninety seven years he is still very active, and regularly drives to visit his wife Helen, who is in a nursing home.
For these and other reasons, Rev. David Clarke has been inducted into the Munro College Old Boys Association Hall of Fame.
