James Valentine Instagram – We lost a great one. Christopher Clark celebrated his 25th wedding anniversary with my sister Lisa just last week. ALS is one of the worst diseases, but he handled it with quiet courage and grace. I almost typed “he ended his battle” with ALS, but it never seemed like a battle. He selflessly made peace with the terminal diagnosis. He was always more concerned with Lisa and the kid’s welfare than his own.
Topher was an national award winning director who established the Theater department at Utah Valley University. He was an expert on Shakespeare and an excellent pianist. He spoke Finnish, from his time as a missionary. He was hilarious and truly a joy to be around. Most importantly he was a loving husband to my sister and an incredible father to Miles, Owen, Phoebe, Hugh and Margaret.
He leaves behind a huge legacy with all of the students whose lives he impacted. I don’t know how many times I’ve met his former students who told me he was their favorite professor. He was there to help his students beyond the classroom too. We’re hearing story after story about how his caring and real attention altered the course of students lives. If you knew him at all this wouldn’t surprise you.
My favorite memories will be the times he visited Los Angeles for theater conferences and and I got him all to myself (we have a very big family). We’d go to movies, talk about music (he was always more up on new music than I was). We’d see his friends in LA that he had taught or studied with, he always surrounded by so many friends.
Seeing him with his Theater community, you got the sense that everyone felt like he was a very close friend. My friends and band mates all loved him: there’s a way someone’s face lights up when they talk about certain people and bringing up Topher’s name had that effect.
It’s a real bummer we can’t give Topher the huge memorial service he deserves right now because of covid, but until that can happen I’m loving hearing everyone’s memories here online.
Thank you to everyone who has reached out to the family.
Well roared, Lion | Posted on 09/Jun/2020 00:43:53
