Mrs. Helen Erle Grizzard Clark's Obituary
Helen Clark died on July 30, 2016 surrounded by a host of angels who guided her soul to her eternal rest in heaven. She was born in Goodlettsville on July 15, 1929, lived briefly in Kingsport during the Great Depression and returned with her family to live in the Inglewood area.
She was educated in The Davidson County Schools, graduating from Isaac Litton High School in 1947. She graduated from Vanderbilt University, Cum Laude, in 1951 where she served as Vice President of Alpha Omicron Pi. Her first job was as a social worker at Travelers Aid on the second floor of The Greyhound Bus Station. Her main job was to assist aspiring musicians who had come to Nashville by bus or one way car and had a guitar and a cardboard suitcase with one change of clothes.
She returned to Graduate School at Peabody College to study early childhood education. She taught elementary age handicapped children at the Junior League Home for crippled children for several years.
She was a loving wife to her husband of 63 years, D. Gene Clark. She is also survived by two children; Christopher L. Clark (Rena Lefkowitz) and Matthew C. Clark (Karen); and one grandson, Nathaniel E. Clark.
She was an active community volunteer in PTA, League of Woman Voters, Church Women United, and other organizations. She was also active in The Civil Rights movement in Nashville in the 1960s.
In 1971, she was the first woman to run for a seat on the Metropolitan Council. The race was in the old 26th District (Eakin School area). She lost in a runoff election by 10 votes.
She and her husband lived in Johnson City for 20 years. Once her children were grown, she commuted to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville and received a Master of Science in Social Work in 1982.
For the next 10 years she was a Social Worker in the Department of Family Medicine of the ETSU College of Medicine followed by being a Research Assistant and Clinical Instructor in The Department of Psychiatry of the ETSU College of Medicine. She authored and co-authored professional articles. She was Social Worker of the Year in the Southern Highlands Council in 1986.
She was a member of the Tennessee Conservation Commission for nine years. She served as chairperson of the Advisory Board of the Johnson City Senior Center.
She and her husband retired to their hometown of Nashville in 1994 and she again became an active community volunteer working for American Red Cross, Mobile Meals and was an Ordained Elder in the Presbyterian Church CUSA. She served as a consultant to the Institutional Review Board of the Vanderbilt Medical Center in its program dealing with research on human subjects.
She was a lifelong Democrat and a resident of the Richland Place Retirement Community for the last five years of her life.
Visitation will be Monday afternoon, August 1, 2016 from 1-3pm at Hillsboro Presbyterian Church, followed by a memorial service.
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