The Lee MacLellan Family Story
David MacLellan Clark - GRANDSON
I was born in 1949, a year after my parents were married, and the year my father graduated from Swarthmore College. That was close timing!
in 1949 GIs were returning from the war, and housing was scarce. My father almost refused his new job at the Connecticut General life insurance company in Hartford CT because he and his wife couldn't find a place to live. They finally found a 2nd floor apartment in Hartford. The outside entrance stairs were quite steep, and my mother said afterwards that upon returning from the hospital, my father carried me in his arms like I was an explosive ready to go off!
My dad probably posed this picture of me in my crib in 1949. He took pictures while growing up to raise money for college.
In my mother's lap when I was one. It looks like I was conducting a symphony.
After our apartment my parents found a small red house built by a Swedish carpenter in Andover CT, and I lived there for a couple of years until we moved to a suburb of Springfield Massachusetts, where my dad started working in a small insurance company called "Palmer Goodell and Keeney".
The suburb was Longmeadow MA, and I would live and go to the schools there until college. It was an old-fashioned New England town with the traditional community green. In front of the green was the historic Congregational church, where I was baptized and worshiped. Longmeadow was an all-white community, a cocoon; growing up there in the peaceful 50s was idyllic.
I struggled with shyness in high school. Back then there were no geeks; there were only athletes and book worms. It wasn't until I ran cross-country and track that I finally fit in as a jock. I was still shy, but not as deeply.
Taken in the 1954-55 school year at Center School in Longmeadow.
I played clarinet growing up because it was an easy instrument to learn. Here I'm giving a show in my grandparents home at Brae Springs PA. There's no more forgiving audience than your family.
In my senior year, 1966-67, we hosted a Dutch student, Martien Lankester, who would take his last year of school before university at Longmeadow High school. In many ways Martien was my opposite: social, confident, and outgoing. (Also, he was always willing to defend the Netherlands.) We bonded as brothers, and have kept in touch since then.
After graduation I decided to apply at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA for two main reasons: it was warmer in PA, and it was just far enough away that my family couldn't just pop in.
In my junior year of college two major events occurred. The Vietnam war was still growing strong, and so I applied to Navy Officer Candidate School to avoid being anywhere near the jungles of Vietnam. In 1971 I graduated in the top 10% of my class, and spent 3 years on an amphibious ship before separating from the Navy in 1974.
My high school yearbook picture.
While living in Richmond I first had a job in a bank, leaving in 1976 to get a Masters Degree in Information Systems from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), located in the city of Richmond VA.
My graduation from Navy OCS in 1971, the year I graduated from Dickinson. Scott and Andy (holding my commission) seemed happy about the event.
After graduate school, I was hired by Reynolds Metals Company. I worked for them for 21 years, starting as a programmer, systems analyst, and then advancing until I was hand-picked to be the Training Manager for the IT Department.
I realized after working at Reynolds that I could better achieve my life-long goal by starting my own company, Arete Systems, to focus on training for programmers, analysts, and regular non-IT people. I closed my company and retired in 2014.
Strangely, my life-long goal of helping people use computers to find the data they needed started with a ski trip.
Every year my parents and I skied they would let me pick out a more luxurious ski resort in Vermont. Since this was way before the Internet, the best way I could get the information I needed to make a decision was by writing to each resort. They would then send me their brochures, and I would dig through all their brochures to find the best one. After getting frustrated trying to cull the information I needed, I realized that there had to be a better way. I had to wait about 30 years before I found that the better way was the Internet.
Roselle Mildred DiGiacomo
The second major thing to happen my junior year in college was going on a blind date with a beautiful freshman, Roselle Mildred DiGiacomo. At the end of the date we stopped in the foyer of her dorm. Her roommate, who was also in the foyer, told Roselle: "You're going to marry that man". We did, in 1973, and have stayed married since.
When I left the Navy in 1974 we moved to Richmond VA and eventually bought a house in the Brandermill community in Chesterfield County.
Roselle and I at the rehearsal dinner.
Taken on our honeymoon in Bermuda
Roselle then attended Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) and received her master's degree in special education. She taught special education children in elementary, middle, and high school for 22 years, becoming a master teacher appreciated by the school administration and loved by her students. Sandwiched in that time was ten years spent as a computer programmer and analyst for the state of Virginia.
We have two wonderful, loving children: James ("Jamie") Edward, born in 1980, and Laura Anita Clark, born in 1982. Having children led us to choose a community of faith. We ultimately settled on Quakerism. We were founding members of Midlothian Friends Meeting and have been worshiping there for 32 years. Roselle is very active in Meeting's peace and social action causes.
A collage of the flowers Roselle grows in our yard.
Laura, Jamie, and Roselle on Father's Day in 2018
Roselle and I enjoy camping in Virginia Beach, and visiting the boardwalk next to the ocean. A statute of King Neptune in the background