There is no perfect time to love

It was around this same time that Clement found love when he met Bernadine on a school field trip to harvest trees at what is now the Colonel William F. Fox Memorial Saratoga Tree Nursery.  

During the trip, the students had the opportunity to ride on one of two machines; a choice between cutting the trees, or tying them into bundles of ten. Clement, a freshman at the time, sat on the harvester, and Bernadine, who was in 8th grade, sat across from him. 

Within two years, the young lovers had to say “goodbye” when Clement enlisted with Company L at the age of sixteen. He had joined the navy.

A remarkable journey

The crew of Clement’s ship navigated the rough waters of the Atlantic Ocean for 17 days as they pushed through to Gibraltar. 

“The bow would go down and then it would screw up and we were just left standing there wondering if it would come up again,” remembers Clement. 

From there, it took another three months for the transport ship to make it through the Suez Canal and into Arabia. Waiting for him at port was the endearing words of Clement’s sweetheart, Bernadine. She’d written to him every single day since he’d been away.

First, a prolonged lack of food, then the bay empties

As World War II progressed, disasters mounted. On a voyage from Hawaii to China, the 400 men aboard were left starving when the food rations went missing. 

They subsisted on bread with a smear of something on it, and a cup of black coffee, if they were lucky. Clement lost 15 pounds.

On the return voyage from Shanghai, an earthquake centered in Alaska resulted in a tidal wave that dried up the bay where their ship, the USS Aultman, had docked overnight. 

The crew woke to find the ship, and all its contents, tipped over onto its side. 

A post-war family

After two years of service, in 1946, Seaman First Class Clement Clark was discharged and made his way from Long Island’s Lido Beach back home to Saratoga Springs where he obtained his mother’s permission to marry Bernadine. 

During their 72-year union, the Clarks had three children; Jimmy, Rosemary, and Jennifer; three grandchildren, and three
great-grandchildren. 

The family took up skiing and travelled to a different mountain every year for eight winters. Clement and Bernadine became collectors (to a lesser degree than Clement’s sister, Minnie Bolster, who amassed one of Saratoga’s most vast) and filled their home with a beautiful assortment of oil lamps, plates, and tumbler glasses. 

Above all, the family always made time to sit down for dinner together. Clement held two jobs simultaneously; he worked at the A&P Supermarket for 32 years, and was the parking superintendent at the Saratoga Harness Track for fifty. He also became a lifetime member of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Affairs.

The wings to fly

In addition to his other adventures, during the 1960s and early seventies, Clement trained as a pilot. 

“I took off that first time and was like, ‘Here I am flying like a bird!’ I just couldn’t believe it,” he said. 

Using the Northway below him as a visual guide, Clement flew that Piper Cherokee plane across the region, from the Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport in Queensbury, down to Albany, over to Burlington, and into Rutland, VT. Eventually, time constraints made maintaining the hobby impossible. 

In a town like no other

When his daughter-in-law, Donna Clark, heard about Clement’s flying history, she signed him up for a scenic flight to celebrate his 96th Birthday this past August. 

Jim Barrett, the pilot of Leaf Air LLC recognized Clement.  They had been in the same class and learned to fly together, 50 years earlier!

Clement fell right back into the routine and commenced the pre-flight check. During the hour-long flight, he enjoyed how much more he could see from the Cessna’s windows (the Cherokee had to be tilted to see past its wing) and how much the area had changed. 

With all that Clement has discovered during his life, Saratoga will always remain at the heart of it, he said.

“I’ve been all over, and I wouldn’t live anywhere else. There’s not anywhere that’s nicer than right here. It’s a good spot.”