Los Angeles
County
Biographies
RALPH A. CLARK and MARY P. CLARK
In
1926 Mr. and Mrs. Ralph A. Clark, with their daughter, Mrs. Beatrice Wright
Randle, founded San Marino Hall School for Girls, and for thirty-two years gave
to their students an intimate atmosphere of home life and basic concepts of
character training and respect for authority.
Fully accredited from grades one through high school, San Marino Hall
was situated at 1815 North Atlantic Boulevard in South Pasadena at the border
of Alhambra, until its closing in 1961.
It is expected that the school will relocate and reopen under the same
name when a suitable location has been found in a less busy section of the same
general area.
Ralph
A. Clark was born in Knoxville, Iowa, on June 27, 1878, the only son of the
five children of Alton R. Clark of New York State, who was in the furniture
business, and Addie (Whippo) Clark, who was born in
Iowa. Mr. Clark received his elementary
education in Garden City, Kansas, and attended Garden City High School. He played semi-professional baseball and was
quite well known throughout Kansas as a left-handed pitcher.
Mary
Pairalee (Ousley) Clark was born on May 7, 1875, in Knoxville, Tennessee, the
daughter of Jonathan and Martha Gersilda (Loy) Ousley. While she
was still a small child, the Ousley family moved to Garden City, Kansas. When Mrs. Clark was thirteen years old her
mother passed away, and she assumed the responsibility of rearing her younger brothers
and sisters. She received her elementary
and some high school education in Garden City and was a teacher in rural areas
of Kansas.
Ralph
A. Clark and the former Miss Mary Pairalee Ousley were married on October 10,
1900. Mr. Clark was associated with his
father in the furniture business in Kansas, and in 1923 he and Mrs. Clark moved
to Glendale, California, where he was a home builder. Taking up residence in South Pasadena in
1926, their long cherished dream was realized, and San Marino Hall opened its
doors as a private school for girls with Miss Beatrice Clark, their daughter,
as principal. Mr. Clark supervised the
property and handled related problems, while Mrs. Clark was in charge of
purchasing, general supervision, and diet.
With a staff of thirty-five and an enrollment of one hundred
twenty-five, Mr. and Mrs. Clark remained, even as octogenarians, an active
force in the school and close to the students.
Notwithstanding
their busy life at the school, Mr. and Mrs. Clark found time to enter into many
civic activities. Mrs. Clark identified
herself with the Order of Eastern Star and became past matron of the Granada
chapter of that organization, and later was Worthy High Priestess of the San
Gabriel Valley White Shrine. Mr. Clark,
prominent in the Masonic Order, a member of Granada Lodge Number 608, in
Alhambra, also served as patron of the Granada Order of Eastern Star and was
Watchman of Shepherds of the San Gabriel Valley White Shrine. Mr. Clark was also identified with the
Alhambra Rotary Club, with a twenty-five year perfect attendance record. Mr. and Mrs. Clark were members of the
Calvary Presbyterian Church in South Pasadena.
Mr.
and Mrs. Clark were the parents of a daughter, Beatrice (Clark) Wright Randle,
who was co-founder of San Marino Hall and its principal until June, 1961, and a
son, Jonathan Paul Clark, who is a prominent realtor in Glendale. There are two grandchildren and three
great-grandchildren. Donald Paul Clark,
the son of J. Paul Clark, was born on October 4, 1935, and is married to the
former Miss Sally Ball of San Rafael; they are both graduates of Stanford
University and are the parents of a daughter, Deborah, who was born on November
2, 1959. Mrs. Franklin W. (Patricia
Marie Wright) Moulthrop, the daughter of Beatrice
Clark Wright Randle, was born on May 25, 1931, and is now living in Lafayette,
California. She is the mother of John Moulthrop, born on May 5, 1953, and Clark Moulthrop, born on October 11, 1954.
Mr.
and Mrs. Clark were both warm and kind personalities and were admired by their
faculty and students alike. Mary P.
Clark passed away on September 19, 1958; Ralph A. Clark passed away on October
29, 1958.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Historical Volume & Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park,
Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple City, by Robert P. Studer,
Pages 538-540, Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California. 1962.
© 2013 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPHIES