Harris, Clark Named 2009 Lady And Gentleman Of Yesteryear

The Van Area Oil and Historical Museum Directors selected Marie Harris and N.E. Clark as the 2009 Lady and Gentleman of Yesteryear and the pair was recognized during the annual Oil Festival held last Saturday.

Clark was born on December 29, 1924 to N.E. Clark and Pearl McPhail Clark on the family farm in the south eastern section of Van.

He was almost five when oil was discovered in the Van field and his father felt that the "rif-raf" associated with the oil boom days might be a little much for his family so he chose to move away for a couple of years. Other than that, Clark has spent his entire life in Van.

He attended Van ISD schools and after graduating, he met Peggy Jane Reynolds. They were married and he then took a job with the Pure Oil Company where he worked for 41 years, going through changes from Pure to Union Oil Company of California and then later Unocal. Some of his most memorable days as "gang pusher" in the field were the tricks he pulled on his crew. Clark was quite noted as the prankster.

Clark and his wife lived with their two children Lynne and Billy in a small farm house and with the pending birth of their third child, Donnie and the arrival of Interstate 20, they left their small home and moved to downtown Van where they lived for the next 45 years. During these years they had added five grandchildren and four great-granddaughters which now bless their legacy but they lost billy Edward Clark and in December 2008, after 64 years of wedded bliss, Mr. Clark lost his wife.

Clark has played volunteer for many community projects over the years, has served with the Vandal Band Parents Association, has served many years as a church leader and topped it all off with 20 years on the Van Volunteer Fire Department.

Verlie Marie Stone was born the only child of Bertha Goode Stone and Roscoe Stone on July 6, 1921 in the Owlett Green community on her grandfather, Dr. Robert Good’s Homeplace.

At the age of four the family moved to the Clower community where she would later start her school days and for the first five years would walk three miles each day except when she used the path her father had cleared for her through the woods, then she had to only walk two miles.

She entered the sixth grade in the van school system and graduated from Van High School in 1938. She was then off to NTWU in Denton, attending there until her sophomore year when she transferred to NTSU and graduated from there in 1943.

Marie’s first teaching job was at Dorchester High School from 1943-1944. This was during world war II and all the men teachers were being drafted into the military so Marie helped fill the vacancies. She was hired to teach home economics but helped out with general science, civics, world history, boys shop, and coached the girls basketball team to a district championship and even acted as principal.

While attending NTSU, Marie met James Logan Harris and they were married on August 22, 1941. Jim then joined the army/air force and was stationed in Sherman.

Marie finished her school year at Dorchester and then returned to live in Van where she was employed by the Pure Oil Company to work in their Van office as a field clerk. Upon Jim’s return to civilian life, he hired on with Pure Oil and worked there for the next 39 years.

In 1952, Marie was hired by the VISD to work in the junior high as the home economics teacher and the head of all food services. She worked there for the next 29 years.

Jim passed away a few years ago and they have one daughter, Trina Harris, who now resides in Van.

Throughout the years, Marie has been active in the community through the Van United Methodist Church, Eastern Star and Various Other organization. She also spends time tending her yard, flowers, garden and picking up pecans and shelling them.