Leo Clark

 

Leo Crawford Clark was born July 28, 1930 in Newport, Arkansas to Dr. Samuel F. and Hattie C. Clark.  The Clark family came to Ypsilanti in 1938 and here his father practiced medicine from their Hawkins Street home.  Graduating from the Michigan State Normal College (now Eastern Michigan University) and the University of Michigan, Clark became one of the first African American teachers at Ypsilanti High School and East Junior High School.  In 1969, Clark became principal of Perry school and spearheaded the transformation of the school into the Perry Child Development Center it is today.  He married Vivian Covington in 1955 and they had one daughter.  Vivian passed in 1981.  In 1999, Clark married Verda Claybrooke who remained with him and cared for him during his illness, along with her six children, until his passing on July 23, 2016.