Born: January 8, 1877, Vincennes, Indiana.
Thomas was the son of Disciples of Christ minister Thomas Jefferson Clark, and husband of Hazel Davis.
He graduated from Indiana University (AB 1899) and did postgraduate work at the University of Chicago (1901–02).
After college, he taught high school in Washington, Indiana, was a singing evangelist, and worked in the piano business.
He later worked as an assistant editor of church school literature at the Christian Board of Publication in St. Louis, Missouri (1906–11), and on the editorial staff of the Christian Century in Chicago (1912–48).
In 1919, he began editing the Christian Century Quarterly. In 1929, he joined the editorial staff of The Christian Century Pulpit.
In 1943, he won first prize in the Hymn Society of America’s nationwide contest with his Thou Father of Us All.
Clark wrote of his religious poetry:
It was my father’s wish that I enter the ministry, but when I entered religious publishing he was gratified.
In my poems I have simply put into verse the Christian convictions that were bred in me through twenty years of listening to his preaching. Every poem I have written has been inspired by deep faith and confidence.
I take no credit, for it has been his voice speaking in all my writing. During all my years with him, I never heard one expression of doubt that God’s will would finally prevail.
My mother, still living at 88 in Indianapolis, [Indiana], is a Christian of boundless faith and optimism. My wife [Hazel née Davis] is the most devoted Christian I have ever known.
The stars have vanished from the midnight sky;
A death-like hush enfolds the earth and sea;
And on the wind tonight I hear the cry
That echoed once from cruel Calvary.
In countless towns they crucify the Lord,
The Prince of Life devote to death and shame;
They scorn His rod of love and raise the sword,
And scourge the Christian lands with Christian
flame.
The swollen waves are red with human blood;
The sod is reeking with the nations’ tears;
The world is steeped in sorrow, for a flood
Of wrath and woe has fallen on our years.
Thou Christ of God, we kneel before Thy cross;
Our path is dark—Thou art the only Way.
Oh, grant us strength to bear this grief and loss
And lead us forth again into the day.
The world that turned from Thee must seek again
Thy love, Thy mercy, and Thy wondrous peace;
The hosts that tread the wilderness of pain
Must hail Thee Shepherd ere their woes shall cease.
O great Physician, Thou alone canst heal;
O mighty Savior, only Thou canst save;
Forgive our sin, turn not from our appeal:
Reach forth Thy hand and lift us from the grave.
Thomas Curtis Clark
Love Off to the War, 1918
If you can help with any of these items,