Huntley golfer; shot four holes-in-one

Robert Clark went from a small town in rural DeKalb County to the airfields of Europe, where he launched more than 30 bombing missions over France and Germany -- including two support missions on D-Day.

When he returned to the states, Mr. Clark spent two decades at Grand Rapids Brass Co. before returning to Illinois and moving into Del Webb's Sun City retirement community in Huntley.

The pastime that wove together the disparate strands of his life -- his boyhood in Waterman, Ill., his wartime service, his leisurely retirement -- was golf, a hobby that took Mr. Clark from Woodstock to Pebble Beach.

When Mr. Clark retired, he turned his avocation into a five-day-a-week vocation -- and was able to shoot his age on many occasions. Over the years, Mr. Clark shot multiple holes-in-one.

"He's got four," said his son David. "He's probably got another one by now in heaven."

Mr. Clark died Friday in Elgin. He was 87.

Mr. Clark was born Jan. 18, 1920, in Waterman, the son of William and Mollie Clark.

He picked up the game he would be remembered best for while caddying at the Woodstock Country Club to help his family during the Great Depression.

Mr. Clark went to high school with his future wife, Caryl, but the two never dated.

They became reacquainted on the golf course, before Mr. Clark was shipped off to Europe to serve in the Army Air Corps.

"Mom and Dad went out that night, and that's basically how it all started," David said.

Mr. Clark decided to enlist in the air corps after joining a few long marches and deciding "he didn't want to march to Berlin," David said.

After the war, when Mr. Clark started his family, he had to cut back on his hobby but resumed his frequent visits to the golf course when his kids went off to college and especially after he retired at the age of 75.

"He was a great athlete," said his son-in-law, Jim Little. "He just focused on golf. He really understood the laws of physics as they related to sports."

"He loved life. He was a (heck of a) guy."

Surviving are his wife of 64 years, Caryl; sons David, Steven and Donald; daughter, Kim; 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.