The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Lt. Colonel Donald Clark Joined Marc Hunt Live On “A Life, Unedited” On The I Love CVille Network!

Episode Date: April 6, 2026

Lt. Colonel Donald Clark, Veteran, Father, Husband, joined Marc Hunt live on A Life, Unedited! A Life, Unedited airs live Wednesday from 10:15 pm – 11:00 am on The I Love CVille Network. “A Life, Unedited” is presented by Martha Jefferson House.

Good afternoon. My name is Mark Hunt. I do the marketing and admissions at Martha Jefferson House, and this is a life unedited. In this podcast, I sit down with remarkable people to talk about their lives, honestly and without the filter of hindsight. Today's conversation is with Lieutenant Colonel Donald Clark. He is a veteran, a father, and a husband. Mr. Clark's life spans nearly a century of change, but what stands out most, Isn't just what he's lived through. It's how he's lived. From growing up in Winchester, Virginia, during tough times, to building a life through discipline, love, and resilience.

This is a story about gratitude, hard work, and what really matters in the end. Mr. Clark, thank you so much for being here. Thank you. I'd love to start at the very beginning. Please take me back to your childhood in growing up in Winchester, Virginia. Well, Winchester, it's not a real big town then.

I think our population was probably listed at 10,000 or something like that. But for the most part, it was a very small town. And we had one high school for the city and another one for the county. And that was about it back in those days. Pretty rural? It was. Yeah, and so I had my mom and dad were both certainly grew up in Frederick County, which is where Winchester's located. And I had three brothers and a sister, and they were all older than me, and unfortunately they've all passed on.

but when I look at how old I am, I realize that, you know, that's not unusual with them. My older brother was 17 years older than me. And so in some respects, he kind of was sort of like a father figure to me in many aspects. I didn't, one of my favorite pastimes as I was growing up, along with, especially my next to oldest brother, was playing softball, fast-pitched softball in Winchester. Nice.

That was a big thing. That was the big thing in Winchester. It was, yes. And I spent most of my evenings during the summer at the ballpark. Nice. You know, I just didn't, I had not much aspiration to be, you know, to go to college. college or whatever, and that came later in my life.

But that was a lot of fun. Growing up, who was your favorite baseball team growing up? Well, always has been whatever the D.C. team is, you know. Winchester is 70 miles from D.C. So I always rooted for them, whichever was closest. You mentioned to me that your family provided a very safe and emotionally and religious stability. What did that look like day to day growing up in rural Virginia? Well, they were both good people.

They were, and I know especially my mom was always very, very, spiritual, I guess I should say. My dad was, he was a very quiet individual. He didn't really say too much, but I know that he was just as religious as anybody else. And so they kind of instilled that in me. I grew up going to Sunday school every week

and to church, and I continue that. even after I graduated from high school. And so it was just something instilled in me. And so there, the fact that they were stable in their, and themselves, that kind of rubbed off on me. So yeah.

That's wonderful. You described, although in being in a loving and stable home, things weren't always easy financially. You grew up in a time where money was an easy to come by. What do you remember about that? What were some of the struggles you had as being young? Well, it was just, there was just never really a lot of extra money for my parents. And they both worked, of course my mother was raising all of us. us. And so she had a full-time job in doing that. But my dad worked at a local textile mill

that we had there. And at some point, he converted one of our rooms in our house to small grocery store. So he did that as well. He somehow or another, he came up with $450 and bought a plot of just woods about 10 miles outside of Winchester and used that and sold wood from it. He would, he would, he would, had an old pickup truck that he took up there and brought it back, even set up a little sawmill in our backyard and cut it up. Wow, that definitely instills value of hard work. Yeah, and one of my brothers was kind of,

And we always, I guess you use the word mentally challenged. My wife Sally says that he was just spoiled. And I think that was probably a lot of it because he, in many respects, he's probably a lot smarter than we were. But he worked with my dad in getting these woods stuff and sawing it up. selling it and whatever. So anyhow, that was good for him. And he never really had a job until there was a,

I forget the name of the place that he finally, they took him in and he got a job packing light bulbs and things. So I think he was probably happier than he'd ever been in his life. Wow, that's incredible. You started working at 12 years old. Yeah. And you did this out of necessity to be able to buy school clothes and your school books.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, our school did not buy books at all for us, so we had to pay for our books. And those, you know, those things are expensive. and of course just everyday living with clothing. And so I went to work at 12 and I rode a bicycle just had a regular basket on it and hauled groceries for people.

And that was sometimes quite an ordeal because when I had a heavy load, but I think back on it, I don't ever remember dumping a load. falling off my bike. And I think maybe I mentioned in there that I had an issue with a dog. There was a couple of dogs that liked to chase people on bicycles. And so one time I can remember I got off my bike because he was a big dog.

And he grabbed my front wheel. It just shook it. He didn't try to bite me, but he was mad at the bicycle, I guess. So that was, those are the kind of things that I did. But you're right, I needed to go to work to do something. That's incredible. That's incredible. Not like your job wasn't hard enough to throw in a dog, and you still delivered the groceries.

That's amazing. Yeah. Do you think growing up poor and having to work from a very young age instilled in you the personality traits that you have to this day? Yeah. Yes. I think so. It made me appreciate that, you know, that hard work is a part of your life. And if you do that, I think you ultimately will find success. And that happened with me.

Of course, my most success I ever had was through the Army. You know, I did retire from the Army. But I loved it. I really did. Well, you did say in your early 20s, you didn't have a lot of, like, a big drive towards education. But your values stay, you know, very consistent to your core values. Then you were drafted into the Army in 1962. Were you afraid at first getting drafted in the middle of the Vietnam War? Well, not so much about the Vietnam War. I think just being drafted in the Army.

I had never been away from my home before. And I was 23 years old when I was drafted. Wow. Yeah. And so I had certainly a lot of reservations about doing that. Although two of my brothers were drafted and they served, and my one, the oldest brother, actually served during World War II. He was, you know, a couple of times.

I think there were a couple of harrowing expenses that he had. My other brother, he was drafted in 52, and so he served overseas in Germany, but it wasn't in any combat. But, yeah, I had reservations about it, but went in, and of all things that they did, I was never I don't think I ever cooked in my life and so what did they do?

Here I am a draftee, right? And they make me an army cook. So I did that actually for a couple of years. And Mike said, I just tried to make the best of it but I loved the discipline and the

regimentation of what the military offered. And that more fit my personality. And so at the end of my two years, I re-enlisted. And I was dating Sally, my wife at the time, and she was an Army brat. So she knew what military life would be like. and she was a terrific, terrific army wife. And so from that point, after I've re-enlisted, then I started to make some,

tried to make some improvements. I even started college courses. When I was in Japan, I took a, my first class, I think, was in the, oh, shoot, I can't remember the subject now, but I took a couple classes in Japan. And then when I came back from Japan, I continued on as doing as much night school as I could. And I actually ultimately got my degree mostly through night school.

I wanted to be a graduate of UVA, you know, being a Virginia. I thought that that would be kind of neat. And I didn't realize that that is such a prestigious school. right that that would have been wonderful if I had had that on my resume that I was a UVA graduate but they were not offering off-campus degrees at that time it was like in 1977 when I you know I graduated from high school and then in 56 so it took me 11 years to to get my degree and so what was your degree in in business management. Mostly,

it concentrated mostly in accounting. Wow. Yeah. And so I always love numbers. Well, that's impressive for somebody who was not, you know, educationally motivated from the beginning, so that's incredible. But I did, you know, once I got into it, I enjoyed that.

Yeah. Well, graduating with a degree from night school is no small feat. It was not. And actually, I graduated from Maryland. University of Maryland. Wow. Yeah, because they were the first ones, in fact, in Japan. The courses that I took were through Maryland.

So I started with Maryland, and I ended with Maryland. I actually had to drive from my home in Alexandria up to College Park, Maryland, for my last two classes. So there was a lot going on, but I was proud of that. When you re-enlisted in the Army, obviously you were. you were no longer a cook. Where did they send you next? After, when I re-enlisted, I re-enlisted for something, a command called the Army Security Agency. Injic, up the road here, is a part of all that.

Right. And so I re-enlisted for that, and I got accepted. And, of course, having a security clearance was so important, but I hadn't lived any place else in my life, so they didn't have too much trouble tracking me, you know, through my life. So I got that, and I, um, so, so, so I got my, I got my, um, I had a thought and I can't remember what it was, but anyway, I, um, so I, after you get your security clearance. Yes. Okay. Yeah, I had to have a security clearance.

I did that. And, but, but my, well, after your security clearance, is that when you kind of just fast-tracked up the ladder? I know you ended up at the Pentagon. Yeah, I did. I was, yeah, I started, I started my, my career, I guess you would say, And then in Japan and came back from Japan,

and that's when I went to Officer Canada School. That's what I was trying to remember. And I went to infantry officer Canada school in 1966 and graduated in November and I was a second lieutenant then. So that was my first real major accomplishment, I guess you would say. I guess you would say. And so then I was, from that, I was assigned to California. In fact, Cindy, my daughter was born in California where we were.

Okay, nice. And I was there, yeah. And so that, so I stayed there for about two and a half years and got promoted to the grade of captain and then went to Vietnam. And so I was a platoon leader in Vietnam. and it came back from there in 1970, I guess it was, 69 and 70 was when I was in Vietnam. Yeah, so anyhow. Well, you can't even imagine what that experience must have been like. It would be in charge of an entire platoon.

Yeah, well, it was, I think I had 70-some people. It was kind of not a regular army. outfit with the security agency. But that was okay. We traveled a lot in Vietnam, going out to actually monitoring our own troops to make sure they didn't divulge any classified information. So anyhow, so that's what I did for my year in Vietnam.

That's incredible. Incredible. I want to double back to your career in the Army because it's so significant. But I want to talk about Sally. And from getting to know you through this process and from before, what you have had to say about Sally is really significant and really beautiful. When was the first time you met Sally? I actually met her in 1959. And again, I go back to the ballpark because, like I said, I was there every night during the summer. And so she was in between her junior and senior year of high school,

and she worked in the concession stand that we had there. So I kind of met her. I didn't really. but I never really talked to her, but I guess it was in October of that year, I had the guts to call her and ask her for a date. So that's, you know, that was in 1959, I guess it was, was the first met her. But we didn't get married until 1964. So we were, we dated a long time. Yeah, long time.

You said she was an army brass. She knew what she was getting yourself into. She did. She was okay with it. Yeah, no, she was, she knew what to expect, I think. But she was a terrific, terrific wife. What drew you to her? I think she'll tell you, it's because she talked.

talks all the time and I don't. And there's probably a lot of truth to that. She was very, she's very outgoing. Yes. You can talk to her and she'll tell you, oh, I hate to be exposed to, you know, to get up in front of a group and talk and whatever. But yet she's the one that will approach everybody.

In the group. Yeah, she just is, but that's just her nature to do that sort of thing. She's also a wonderful human. As well as your daughter. So, four years later, after getting married, you had your daughter in California. What was it like all of a sudden being an officer in the Army and then having a family? Well, that was terrific. Yeah, it was, she was a wonderful little girl, you know.

And so we had a lot of fun together. I think I taught her how to throw a ball. and that those sort of things yeah even though you know she I think she could probably catch a ball better than some of her male friends that she had but but she yeah she she did good um you've also experienced some loss so i know you told us that you had three brothers and a sister you experienced the loss of your brothers and your sister some of them early on um How did you process those losses? How did you keep moving on during those times?

Well, I think I kind of accepted for the most part that, you know, especially my older brother, I forget how old he was when he passed away, but he was in his 90s. Okay. And the other brother, the one I told you about that had some challenges. He was, I think, like 71 when he died. but he had a heart valve replacement. So he was not healthy at all.

And my other brother, who was seven years older than me, just passed away in November maybe, just recently. He was 94 when he passed away. And my sister was unfortunately, she, She was in a nursing home in Winchester, and this was during COVID, you know. And the poor thing, she was basically kind of isolated, and her family couldn't come visit her because they all had the COVID. So she, I think she just died from COVID, but she didn't have it. I think she died because she was just lonely, and she couldn't put up with it.

anymore. That's her radio. I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah, that was. Well, I talked to your daughter a little bit about you, and she was also explaining that she got to learn some more things about you. And I wanted to

ask you, there was a time in your life where you had a moment of growth, and it was when you were in the service. And it happened, there was a story shared with me about some of your, I guess, people in your platoon or people that were, that you knew in the Army that were African American. And you saw discrimination firsthand.

Yeah. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Yeah, that happened to me. I didn't mention that in what I gave you, but in 1962, the, you've heard of the missile crisis, right? Cuban missile crisis. So, again, I was at Fort Jackson, and that's when I was an Army Cook. So for whatever reason, I was one of the 35 selected to go to Key West, Florida, and we were there to set up in the event that we invaded Cuba. And so we didn't.

So anyhow, on the way down there, we went in a convoy, I think it took us three days from Port Jackson to Key West, but on the way we had to stop and get some food or go in and eat in a restaurant. And the African-American soldiers were not allowed in the restaurants. And I had never seen that before. Even growing up in Winchester, there was... I knew that there was a lot of bias and prejudice and whatever, but I hadn't seen it firsthand because some of these people I got to know and yet they couldn't go in a restaurant and eat

because they were black. And that just kind of opened my eyes as to, yeah, there really is a problem. and that, you know, we need to address that. So, so, unfortunately, it wasn't that long ago. It wasn't, you know. 1962, that's when all this happened, so. Well, fast forward today. What are some things that you see, what is your worldview like today?

When you look at the world today, what do you think people are getting wrong? Oh, I think that everybody seems to hate everybody else, especially politically. You just can't seem to get anything done because even if it makes sense because you've got politics there and you've got to kind of stick together. And I hate that. I just wish we could get back to the point where, you know, you can have disagreements and you can have. disagreements and you can have different views on things but but at least they ought to address it I think with each other and and that's that's I think that's

where we have lost some of our you know some of our country actually that way so I've always been very patriotic even when I can remember when when we beat the Russians in something in sports. And I think it might have been Jim McKay was the announcer, and he yelled out, you know, something about, and he probably got in trouble for it, but on the air about something about beating those Russians. And so that was good. I really, really enjoyed that we had that much, you know,

patriotism in our country. Definitely a lot of that has been lost for sure. What does just a few more questions for you? What does being a decent person mean

to you personally? I think just being a kind person and I think if you think about everything that's going on and if you analyze situation that you're in and try not to put people down for their thoughts, for their beliefs.

And I think that we would all be a better world if we could do that. I agreed. What are you most proud of? Well, I guess I can categorize it by. family, I'm proud of my wife and my daughter and her husband, you know, and of course, my grandkids and great-grandkids now. So I'm proud of them. But I'm proud of the things that I accomplished in my life, getting a college degree, you know, that to me was a big step. and becoming an officer in the Army.

You know, I thought that that was, I never dreamed that I would ever serve more than my two years in the Army. You know, that's what everybody did in those days. We were drafted. We had a two-year commitment, and so we all did. But I just, I loved it, and I re-enlisted, and ultimately at the end,

I wound up with 20, nine years of service. And so anyhow, those are the things that I think I'm proudest to. That's incredible, as you should be. And last question. When people think of you years from now, what do you hope that they

remember? That I was a kind person. That really is all that I really care about. And, you know, I'm sure that if you talk to certain people, they'd probably say, oh, he was just this or just that politically. So go back to politics. But no, I think that, I just hope that that's what people would think about me. I'm pretty confident. That's what the first thing people will say is how kind you are.

You're one of the kindest people I've ever met. Well, thank you very much. Well, I appreciate this, Mark. You're taking the time and just give me a chance to talk about some of those things. Well, the honor is all mine, I promise. My name is Mark Hunt. This is a life unedited. In this podcast, I get to sit down with incredible people like Lieutenant Colonel Clark

and hear their life stories and perspectives. Thank you very much.