Positive attitude is longevity's prescription
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OREM, Utah — Live to be 106 and you'll soon grow accustomed to being asked the secret of longevity.
Dr. Russell B. Clark is quick with his time-earned answer.
"Take care of yourself...and take a positive attitude," said the lifelong Church member who has enjoyed the rarified title of centenarian for six years. Dr. Clark recently celebrated his birthday with friends and family doing "a lot of talking and laughing." A highlight of his Nov. 19 birthday was assisting in the blessing of his newest great-great-grandchild — his 14th.
Oliver Wendell Holmes once said "there's nothing that keeps its youth, so far as I know, but a tree and truth." The author didn't know Dr. Clark. The latter still travels, monitors his investments and, sporting a crisp shirt, tie and a broad smile, welcomes guests at his apartment at an Orem, Utah, retirement center.
An Idaho farm boy-turned-family-physician, Dr. Clark offers an additional prescription to living a long, full life.
First, "a healthy diet — plenty of fruit and vegetables." Go easy on the meat, he added, and drink plenty of water. Enjoy fruit juice. No drinking. No smoking. Keep moving and always have something to do. And remember, family is life's essence.
Good genes help. Dr. Clark has a sister who will soon celebrate her 100th birthday. His uncle lived to be 105.
The Church has kept him anchored and sure.
"The gospel is something you can always depend on," said the two-time returned missionary. "The gospel isn't here today and gone tomorrow."
Dr. Clark has happy memories of his childhood in Montpelier, Idaho. It was there he learned gospel living and the work ethic. A product of pioneer stock, Dr. Clark remembers taking a job driving a gas truck on the treacherous roads from his hometown to Afton, Wyo. ("You would drive with a prayer in your heart.") He played on a championship school basketball team and would accept a call to serve in the Southern States Mission.
A relative had claim to the family farm, so young Russell Clark learned early that he'd have to find another way to earn a dollar. So he studied hard, enrolling at the University of Utah and then moving on to medical school at Chicago's Northwestern University. He performed his residency at Cook County Hospital at the peak of Prohibition. "I practiced in the days of Al Capone."
One February evening in 1929 he performed his professional duty by declaring seven men dead following a Windy City slaying that history knows as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
Dr. Clark married a fellow University of Utah student named Ruby Dorius of Salt Lake City. She died some 40 years later. He is now married to Donna Keeney Clark. Dr. Clark has five children.
His medical practice would take him to California and, years later, to Hawaii where he worked as a physician at the Church-owned school that would become BYU-Hawaii. Time on the islands among the students remains a cherished memory. "We had a great time."
Dr. Clark has never learned to retire. "I'm not ready to sit on a swing and watch people go by."
When he was in his 70s and no longer practicing medicine, Dr. Clark began buying and selling land to stay busy. He and Sister Clark also served a mission together in Florida not long after President Spencer W. Kimball received the revelation allowing all worthy male members of the Church to hold the priesthood. The Clarks were sent to the island nation of Jamaica so Dr. Clark could bestow patriarchal blessings to faithful members eager to enjoy the blessings of the priesthood in full.
Dr. Clark's progeny marvel at their father's energy and attitude.
"One characteristic about Dad is that he always has places to go and people to see," said son Steve Clark, adding service has always marked his father's life.
"At 106, Dad is still the family patriarch."
E-mail to: jswensen@desnews.com
