JOHN DELANEY CLARK

JOHN DELANEY CLARK
by David Meyers

While we receive many nominations for the Columbus Senior Musicians Hall of Fame, most are for individuals well known to us, either as performers or educators (or both). Such is not the case for John Delaney Clark, though maybe it should be.

Clark was born march 19, 1892, in Bolivar, New York, and graduated from New Lexington (Ohio) High School in 1909, having already gained recognition for his skills as a violinist and valve-trombonist (not to mention as semi-pro basketball player). He had been leading a band in the Ohio Music Hall in Zanesville for a year when the great flood of 1913 destroyed the theater, and he and several of his band mates joined the Chatauqua circuit.

Following the Red Path, as this branch of the circuit was called, to Western Canada, Clark helped serve up a mixture of culture, religion, and arts, showcasing orator G...