Sylvester Bert Clark

Sylvester Bert Clark died of a heart attack on August 24, 2006, passing from this life to be with his beloved wife and his Lord Jesus Christ. He was born in Minnesota on February 22, 1922. Known to all as “Bert,” he was a very kind young boy who lost his father before he was a year old. After the loss of his father, his mother moved him and his two sisters to Santa Monica. Even though he had no role model of men in his life, he was a wonderful husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather and friend.

He served in World War II as a Marine, fighting for our country in Okinawa. He was wounded by shrapnel during his service and received the Purple Heart before being honorably discharged in November of 1945. Bert would proudly carry pieces of shrapnel in his legs and kidney for the rest of his life.

In 1946, Bert married his sweetheart, Mary Helen Grasso, whom he met in Los Angeles on a blind date… Love at first sight. They were best friends and he was a devoted husband for 57 years, until her death in 2004. Bert and Mary were very active in the Culver City Presbyterian Church and led the youth groups for many years. They influenced many a young heart in the ways to live your life following Jesus. He worked as a horticulture research assistant at the UCLA research laboratory, where he discovered a love of plants. He and his wife, along with friend Yolanda Orta, started Berryman Nursery (a fern propagation business) in Bert and Mary Helen’s backyard in Culver City in 1953.

In 1958, Bert and Mary Helen discovered and bought their seven-acre dream property in Fallbrook, which included a barn and pond. They built their house and a new nursery and they moved to Fallbrook in 1969. Bert commuted to UCLA and then UC Riverside until he retired to work full-time at what they now called Clark’s Nursery.

Bert and Mary loved Fallbrook and made many friends. Unlike most families where the children move away from the parents, Bert and Mary Helen had left their children in the Los Angeles area, but within a few years all of their children and grandchildren would be living (and are still living) happily in Fallbrook. This was quite a testament as to what great parents and friends Bert and Mary were to those around them.

Bert had lost a significant portion of his hearing and by the time he was a mature adult he had almost total hearing loss. That caused him to be very quiet in large groups, but when he was conversing in small groups his wonderful sense of humor came out in full force. He was a wonderful storyteller with many interesting stories from his childhood, his time as a Marine, travels and every other aspect of a normal, happy life. He will be remembered as a ferocious book lover, a very skilled woodworker and mostly as an example to his family of kindness, honesty and a giving heart.

He is survived and remembered by his sister-in-law, Lillian Broadbent; son Wayne (Robbie) Clark; two daughters, Tina (Don) Rainey and Suzie (Frank) Brock; his six adored grandchildren, Jason (Arica) Rainey, Michelle (Brandon) Way, Carrie (Albert) Russell, Bethany (Zack) Principe, Elicia Clark and Chad Clark; two great-grandchildren; and many friends and loved ones.

Funeral arrangements are with Berry-Bell and Hall Fallbrook Mortuary. A memorial service will be at the mortuary on Thursday, August 31, at 11:00 a.m., with a short gravesite service immediately following at the Masonic Cemetery.

Bert always said that the Salvation Army was a Godsend to the military during the war, and he would be pleased if donations could be made, in his name, to that worthy organization.