1914 ~ 2003
H. Clark Fails, 89, of Orem, Utah died peacefully Tuesday, Oct. 14th
Clark Fails was born July 24, 1914 in Acequia, Idaho to Herman P. and Mabel Fails. The family lived in Acequia and Rupert, Idaho until his senior year in high school, when they moved to Boise. Clark graduated from Boise High School in 1932. Following attendance at Boise Junior College and Universidad Gabino Bareda in Mexico City, he attended the University of Idaho, from which he graduated in 1938 with a major in Spanish and minors in French and German.
Following his graduation, he prepared to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He left in June of 1939 to serve in the French Mission and was assigned to work in Switzerland. With the outbreak of World War II, he was evacuated from Europe and was re-assigned to the Spanish-American Mission, where he met a Sister Adrienne Willis. Following their missions, he looked her up. Before he could marry her, he was drafted into the Army. Following boot camp he was assigned to Military Intelligence in the Washington, D.C. area. He was miraculously able to secure a week-long furlough which allowed him to travel to Salt Lake City to be married to the aforementioned Adrienne Willis and they were married on July 1, 1942.
Clark's military service took the young couple to Costa Rica, where they spent their first three wedding anniversaries. During this time Clark was able to become well-acquainted with virtually all of the top officials of the Costa Rican government.
Following his return to the United States, he was called by the First Presidency as a counselor in the presidency of the Mexican Mission and because of his government contacts in Costa Rica, was able to secure permission for the Church to be established in that country.
Following his missionary service in Mexico, he returned to the United States where he pursued a graduate education at the University of California, Berkeley, graduating with a Master of Arts Degree in Spanish in 1950. He began teaching Spanish, French and German at East Contra Costa Junior College, later renamed Diablo Valley College, in Pleasant Hill, California in 1951. He taught there for 32 years, retiring in 1983. He traveled extensively, visiting every county of every state in the United States and visiting 82 different nations and colonies.
He is survived by three children, Willis (Dianne) Fails of Orem, Elena (Anthony) Hutchinson of Chevy Chase, Maryland and Sally (Philip) Brittain of Sisters, Oregon. He is also survived by a sister, Beth Tucker of Shingle Springs, California. He was preceded in death by his wife Adrienne Elizabeth Willis, originally of Grantsville, Utah, and a daughter Anita Rae.
Funeral services will be held Friday, October 17 12 noon at the Geneva Heights 1st Ward Chapel, 590 North 900 West in Orem. Family and friends may call at the Sundberg Olpin Funeral Home for viewing Thursday evening from 6:30 to 8:30. There will also be a viewing before the funeral service on Friday at the chapel.