David Clark was born in September of 1932, in Budapest, Hungary. His mother, Yolanda deCsuka, descended from Landed Gentry in Transylvania who received a title from Ferdinand II, Hungarian king, in 1635. She came to America at the age of twenty nine to promote the sale of folk Hungarian handicrafts created by middle class women who had lost their husbands in the First World War. Her employer was the “Sisters of Social Service” a religious organization doing social work in Hungary. The sales were promoted through Exhibitions in good hotels in seasonal holiday places, mainly on the Atlantic Seaboard. During the 1931 winter season she went to Havana and Miami, Florida.
His father’s family originally settled in Massachusetts in 1633, moved to Nova Scotia in 1766 and finally to Canso Nova Scotia, where the Western Union provided positions as telegraphers for the trans-Atlantic cable. David’s father, while still in his teens, secured a position with the company in Panama close to the Canal’s completion in 1914. After a stint in the Canadian Army, his father moved to Miami, Florida where happily he met and married Yolanda. As a result of the Depression, they moved to Montreal in 1932 where David spent his first 19 years.
David’s growing up was unremarkable. Things were tough in the 30’s and his father worked long hours ensuring the flow of messages to Europe during the War. David has two siblings: a sister (Nina) in Belleville, Ontario and a brother (Peter) in Nanaimo. David graduated from Montreal West High School, but was unable to find a place in Quebec Universities due to the record enrollment of War Veterans. He ended Up at Mount Alison University in Sackville, New Brunswick.
Two years at Mount Alison (with too much emphasis on pool and guitar) persuaded David to move to Toronto where he was employed in the general insurance business as an Inspector and Inland Marine Insurance Underwriter. The Norwich Union transferred him to the Vancouver office. His immediate love of the mountains took him away most week-ends. He met Hilary Yates at the Sitzmark Ski Club, married and had three boys: Tim, Andrew and Muir (each of whom ended up marrying and having families, all domiciled in the Greater Vancouver area). Each son provided David with two grandchildren.
David’s marriage and his role of insurance company manager with a Western Canada staff of 42 ended in the seventies when the BC government decided that they could do auto insurance better than the private sector. In 1978 David opened a practice in upper level recruitment and mergers and acquisitions. Initially this focused on engineering and financial searches and finally in general insurance brokerage amalgamations. This lasted until his retirement at 72 in 2005.
In 1984 David married Truus, which doubled the size of the family to 24. Truus was welcomed into the Bicycle Tour Club initiated by Keith and Marion Goddard — which began four decades of bike touring in France, BC, Alberta, and Washington state. The family also skied, and have holidayed at Heron Rocks on Hornby for the last fifty years. Maui was regular destination in the last decade.
David thinks that he was born a contrarian. After completing Sunday School at the Montreal West United Church at age 13, he found himself in disagreement with certain church doctrines. He had the good fortune to encounter the Unitarian Church in Toronto — and upon arrival in Vancouver found Philip Hewitt and the tiny 10th Avenue Church which eventually became 49th and Oak Unitarian Church (now called “Van U”). With Rev Hewitt’s blessing 57 years ago, a contingent from that church initiated NSUC. Since then, David has been more often absent than present but he currently makes the trek with Truus from Point Grey on a regular basis.