Frank A. Clark was the real person behind his newspaper cartoon character “The Country Parson.” Through his one-panel drawings, Clark founded a ministry that numbered in the tens of thousands. From its initial publication in the “Des Moines Register,” his Country Parson was featured in more 200 newspapers.
Frank A. Clark was born in Elkhart, Iowa, in 1911. His mother, Bethania, died in 1917 and his father, Ralph, remarried. It was his father’s second wife, Elizabeth, who then raised Frank and his older brother, Tom.
Clark’s experience in school plays and speaking at events gave him a comfort he would find helpful when talking publicly about his “Country Parson” later on. He had aspiration of being a Disciple of Christ minster and enrolled in Drake University. Finding the Greek and New Testament classes to be too difficult, he switched to the Liberal Arts college as a math major while minoring in physics.
After graduating Clark joined the staff of the “Des Moines Register”. He sold them on his idea for a science column titled “Odd, Isn’t It?”. This led him to becoming a feature writer and moving to the Register and Tribune Syndicate, eventually becoming managing editor.
Clark was helping a cartoonist, Wally Falk, who wanted to acquire a second feature after creating a successful one called, “Kickin’ Around.” It was Falk who presented the idea of “The Country Parson” to Clark. Falk would draw it if he could convince Clark to write one-liners. From its inception in April of 1955, it grew to be picked up by 28 newspapers in its first year.
Frank Clark continued his single-panel ministry until 1982. Wally Falk drew the cartoon until his death in 1962. Dennis Neal, who was an artist for the newspaper syndicate, took over for the ensuing years.
While Frank A. Clark didn’t become the church pastor he dreamed of being in his youth, he reached many. Many ministers credit Clark’s words of wisdom and wit with being inspiration for their sermons. His writings seemed as simple as they were short, yet they contained volumes as evidenced by just this one: “If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.”