lives livedJournalist Chris Clark was happiest when his total household was collectively on vacationJanuary 26, 2023

Christopher Jackson Clark: Editor. Father. Advocate. Guelphite. Born March 4, 1955, in Calgary.; died July 12, 2022, in Guelph, Ont., of a coronary heart problem; aged 67.

Write it tight and vibrant, just a bit sparkler, Chris may advise right here as he did reporters on the neighborhood newspaper he edited in Guelph for 30 years. Not too vibrant, although. He hated glowing tributes. He was all too conscious of his personal flaws.

The third baby of Jack Clark and Patricia Boyer, he grew up near his siblings, Mike, Melinda and Jennifer, in Toronto’s Rosedale space. Whereas Chris solely actually “excelled” in highschool at smoking out on the road, his late brother Mike suggested him to enter journalism, saying, “Anybody can do it.”

Chris – to his shock – was employed by the Portage La Prairie Each day Graphic, protecting “sports activities to courts” and got here to imagine that working at small native papers was the most effective coaching for any journalist.

Chris ultimately moved again to Ontario for a job on the Ingersoll Occasions. He married one other reporter, Margaret Boyd, and started elevating their three youngsters – Marianne, Jeremy, and Madeline. Chris accomplished a broadcast journalism diploma at Fanshawe School in London, and landed in Guelph for a job on the college’s radio station.

In 1986 he was lured to a start-up weekly tabloid known as the Tribune, first as a sports activities reporter after which as editor, the place he stayed till retiring in 2016. Nothing happy Chris greater than when the “Trib” scooped the “Merc,” the broadsheet day by day Mercury. It galled him after he retired to see the papers amalgamated with each names on the masthead.

Hardly hard-boiled, nonetheless, Chris would bounce into the newsroom with a cheery “Whats up, lovely folks.”

He was a romantic about journalism, with film posters for The Put up and Highlight on his partitions. He as soon as backed a 10-part sequence on helps for brand spanking new and breast-feeding moms after a neighborhood child died of dehydration. He simply wished to place out a “newsy” paper and may very well be irritating, needling his small clutch of reporter-photographers till one got here again with a robust front-page photograph or story.

Chris additionally ran a weekly photograph characteristic on heritage buildings that earned him an Architectural Conservancy of Ontario media award for his advocacy.

His curiosity in transformation prolonged to his private life. He was crushed when his marriage ended within the early Nineties, however discovered love once more.

Kate Revington, a mom of three, stated she almost cancelled their first espresso date when she couldn’t discover a babysitter for her youngest. However Chris informed Kate to convey her daughter alongside. Kate acknowledged his kindness from the beginning. Espresso prolonged to lunch and onward for 27 years.

They selected to “reside aside collectively” simply blocks from one another to spare their youngsters the stress of adjusting to a blended household. However Chris labored arduous to create “connective tissue.” He was by no means happier than when all six children – later with companions and youngsters – have been collectively on trip or poolside in his yard. He can be satisfied to know {that a} record they compiled of 29 issues they discovered from him included “find out how to be a loyal companion and father or mother.”

Chris liked doing crosswords and devoured a number of newspapers. He volunteered with a studying membership for younger newcomers to Canada and took many sundown pictures on the Boyer household cottage in Kincardine, Ont. He additionally loved travelling to see his children residing overseas.

Chris died too quickly and unexpectedly, though peacefully it appeared, resting on his mattress, fingers on his chest, glasses on the aspect desk, after coming residence with steaks for a household barbecue that night.

Chris’s household and associates got here collectively for a celebration of life, however he would have been high-quality with calling it a funeral. “We don’t should insert sweetener into each facet of life and dying,” Chris used to say. “It’s okay to mourn.” In order that they did simply that and stated goodbye.

Greta DeLonghi is Chris’s former colleague.

To submit a Lives Lived: [email protected]

Lives Lived celebrates the on a regular basis, extraordinary, unheralded lives of Canadians who’ve not too long ago handed. To discover ways to share the story of a member of the family or good friend, log on to tgam.ca/livesguide