Honoring Jim Clarke – my friend and teacher

Editor’s Note: Jim Clarke was a long-time teacher and coach in Los Banos. For 47 years he taught art, math and special education, as well as coaching football, and affected the lives of thousands of Los Banos Junior High School students.

Jim died on March 16, 2021 in Los Banos, peacefully, in his home. Martin Wuest, the author of this opinion piece, has been a close friend of his for the past several years. This is Martin Wuest’s tribute to Jim.

Jim Clarke and I first met at a local restaurant over five years ago, although many people have known him a lot longer. At the time, he was teaching art at the local junior high school while I was finishing a career in semiconductor electronics after more than 30 years commuting to the Bay Area.

Our paths crossed during an unusual commonality: we both liked the Green Bay Packers. But we later found we also both liked high-performance cars, good food, fine wine and artistic expression.

Jim’s sense of humor was likable from the beginning. He had a dry wit from the Midwest, which fit in well with my inherited father’s Chicagoan background and my mother’s English equally dry humor.

We kept in touch by meeting at Starbucks in town every morning. That was the place where Jim had coffee each morning and connected with many of his friends and former students. Eventually we became inseparable.

It was unbelievable how many people knew Jim and how well he taught more than four generations of students. He really was a local celebrity. He was also highly respected and regarded.

Jim helped start the Empty Bowls project more than a dozen years ago, in which his students made colorful bowls that were part of a fundraiser to help persons in Los Banos who didn’t have enough to eat.

His beautifully crafted “empty bowls” were not just known locally. When my friend Ben visited from the United Kingdom, the three of us would go to many local places and restaurants of Los Banos. Before Ben left, Jim gave him two of his famous bowls, which have pride of place in his home in England and remind him of Jim every day.

When Jim retired, we continued to go to Starbucks until the pandemic. Then his favorite “quarantine cuisine” involved a trip to Harris Ranch in his Shelby Cobra Ford Mustang, where we shared simple prime rib French dip sandwich for lunch.

I shall always miss my dear friend. He made me laugh, and he was always there to help me figure things out, listen to me when I was upset, and cheer me up when I was down. The most important thing, as with all his many students, he BELIEVED IN ME.

I was in reality his last “student,” and the most important thing he taught me was to “pay attention to the details,” just as he did with his students, his ceramic bowls and his life.

This story was originally published April 3, 2021 at 10:48 AM.