8/18/2013
I went to Larry Clark's funeral today. Most of the people that I grew up with in Speedway know either Mark, Mike, or Susie Clark. Their father died this past Monday morning. He was a good man. That sounds trite and inadequate, but he really was. He was a good father, a loving husband, a veteran, and a successful business man. Larry was all these things and so much more.
He was funny. He loved to tell goofy jokes. He told the same ones a lot, but that was okay. He seemed to get such joy out of telling them that no one minded. They weren't squeaky clean and they were seldom politically correct, but that was more than okay too.
Larry had his own style of delivery. He had a deep voice and after he told the joke he would smile and chuckle to himself inaudibly. He got so much satisfaction out of making others laugh and smile. It was a pleasure to be around him. The punchline was always worth the ride.
Larry was a native of the Detroit area and he was a true Tigers Fan--hopefully he won't mind a Red Sox fan writing this blog about him. He told us stories about the Tigers. He told us he saw an unassisted triple-play once. I remember the first time he mentioned a guy named Al Kaline I scoffed. "That's not a real guy's name." He told me about when the Tigers played the Yankees and how Yogi Berra would talk to the fans when he was catching. On one occasion the umpire threatened to "run" Yogi if he didn't stop. Some fans kept trying to talk to him. One fan finally called out, "Can't you hear us, Yogi?" Yogi shook his head no.
Larry also made a pretty good pot of stew and he was an avid fisherman, but what I remember most about him was that he had a quiet, steady likability. He almost always greeted me the same way.
I would walk into the living room and he would say, "Mike Nickels." There was something about the way way he said it. It's hard to put into words, but it felt like he hadn't said it since the last time he had seen me and he was happy that he could say it again. At any rate, that's how it made me feel and I liked that about him.
I could write several blogs about all the things I liked about Larry, but I want this blog to be more than just my "Ode to Larry."
This is also my way of thanking the Clarks, the Bopps, the Suches, the Schaechers, and the Osburns for being so damn good to me. I met the Clarks when I was about 11 or 12. I'll be 50 this coming April. If someone had told me 4 decades ago that the relatives of Mike and Mark Clark would be my second family I don't know that I would have believed them. They taught me so much and a lot of it was about myself
My family was pretty dug in on the West side of Indianapolis and I knew that my parents had graduated from Washington High School in 1956. They taught me of the significance Washington High School and what life on the West side was all about. A lot of this came from Eddie Bopp, his wife Regina, and their parents. Eddie is Anita Clark's nephew and he had been a player on the Washington High School basketball team that won the 1965 state title. They did that and so much more.
As the years went by I spent more and more time with them. I spent many Sunday afternoons with these good people. They treated me as one of their own. Earning their love and respect meant the world to me. This was especially true during the late 1970's and early 1980's.
My parents were divorcing and while I never felt unloved there were many times I didn't want to be at home amongst my own family. The Clarks, Bopps, and Suches gave me what B'rer Rabbit called a "laughin' place". The interesting thing was that I was not the only one that felt this way. I know that there were others that they embraced and welcomed.
My favorite memories were Thanksgiving and Christmas day afternoons. Hours spent eating, watching football, playing games, laughing at jokes and stories, and great conversations about movies made my life richer.
I would usually get to Thelma and Ed's or Anita and Larry's around two or three. I was never hungry when I arrived, but their persistent concern would eventually wear me down.
"Are you hungry, Mike?" Anita Clark would say.
"Get yourself a plate, Mike," Thelma "Aunt Sis" Bopp would tell me.
"There's plenty of food. Have a plate," Sunifta "Nifty" Such would instruct.
"Oh, just have a plate!" Regina Bopp would admonish.
I would usually relent and grab a plate or one of these sweet ladies would make one for me. I would sit down, eat and catch up with the women folk. Then I would get up and go into another room where all the guys were and the whole process would repeat itself.
"Mike Nickels," Larry Clark would say as if he was announcing my presence to the others. "You hungry?" he would add.
"Get a plate," Uncle Ed would say.
"Plenty of food," George Such would tell me.
"Eat something, Nickels!" Eddie would order.
And again, I would do as I was told by the benevolent elder statesmen of this clan that had allowed me to worm my way into their midst.
Thelma, Ed, George, and 'Nifty' all preceded Larry into heaven. He gets to converse with them and it's hard not to be just a little envious of that.
Thanks again for stopping by and staying until the end.
