Archives West Finding Aid

Jesse Claude Clark, known throughout his life as J. C., was born in Iowa. He attended Oregon Agricultural College, graduating in 1904. J. C. was a deeply religious man, which was reflected in his life's work. After graduation from OAC, he became the Boy's Work Secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in Boise, Idaho. Soon after, he joined the staff of the Young Men's Christian Association in Portland, Oregon. During his tenure in Portland, he established a boys' camp at Spirit Lake, and started and operated a home for working boys in the city. He married Julia Fuller, a 1906 graduate of Oregon Agricultural College, in 1907. He was assigned to the Shanghai, China branch of the YMCA in 1911 as the Boy's Division Secretary, and he moved there with his young family, including children Winston, Richard, and Emogene. In Shanghai, he oversaw a rapidly expanding set of services for Chinese boys and families. In addition to conducting the first ever camp for boys in China in 1913, he planned a building complex for boys' activities, which was finished in 1915. His Division became the largest in the world in 1914. Later he also became responsible for the Industrial Service of the Shanghai YMCA, and founded a Model Village for industrial workers at Pootung. J. C. and his family spent 12 years in Shanghai, and in the 1920s Clark accepted an appointment as the World Brotherhood Secretary of the National Council of the YMCA in the United States. Clark was elected to the honor society Phi Kappa Phi in 1928. Later, he became the General Secretary of the Seaman's Y in New York City. He retired from the YMCA in 1944, and became director of the American Baptist Assembly summer conference center in Green Lake, Wisconsin. His wife Julia died in 1951, when he retired completely. He returned to Oregon in 1952 and married Ava Milam after a brief courtship. J. C. and Ava traveled around the world during their short time together; JC died on August 26, 1956 after a brief illness.