NINETY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 October 1939, Page 6

NINETY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY

CELEBRATED BY MR G. H. CLARK. AN OLD MASTERTON RESIDENT. Mr G. H. Clarke, of King Alexander Street, Lansdowne, is celebrating his ninety-fifth birthday today. Mr Clarke, who was born at Maidestone, Kent, in 1844, came to New Zealand as a youth in the “Wild Duck,” later returning to England. In 1872 Mr Clarke returned by the Halcione to settle permanently in New Zealand. He first obtained employment in the Public Works Department, which occupation he followed for some .time. In 1885 he took up farming at Kopuaranga until his retirement some years ago. Mr Clarke, who had walked to and from Wellington frequently in the early days, retains all his faculties, his eyesight being very good. Mr Clarke evinces keen interest in local affairs and in the war news. Mr Clarke stated to a “Times-Age” reporter today that seven of his familyvolunteered in the Great War, and that he, too, recently offered his services in the present war but was rejected. Mr Clarke was predeceased by his wife twelve months ago, having been married. for sixty-six years. Upon being congratulated on celebrating his birthday, Mr Clarke stated that he hoped to feel as well at ninety-six as he felt today.