 An
interview with Holly (Christmas 2006)
Holly Clark, the daughter
of the Pony Emblem and Mustang I Designer ...
speaks out about her sentiments and plans for 2007
I, Holly Clark, spent my entire life, just trying
to find out more about my dad. Not understanding why my family was so
saddened just at the sight of me. It was pointed out to me, just
this Christmas, that I was really sad most of my life, but it was
because the people around me were sad. I lost my dad at 2, and I was
always, literally, looking for him. Expecting him to show up one day.
Expecting it to all be a bad dream.
The Christmas I found his things in
Grandmother's attic, all I wanted to do was find daddy's friends.
I wanted to hear stories about him. To get to know him. To know what
he looked like, what he sounded like. What he wore. What he did. I
wanted to know why all this art work was with his things, and why
all this Ford stuff was in his portfolio and his
personal papers. I wanted to know the dad that I never knew.
It's now been over 20 years. And I am still
searching for my father. At times my family thinks I need to let go.
But he is a mystery to me. When I found the only friend of his that
would talk to me, he told me that dad actually drew those Mustang
pictures. I was so naive about cars/dates/etc I didn't even know the
Mustang came out in 1964 1/2, so the pre-dated drawings didn't mean
anything to me....except when I touched them, I knew I was touching
the same places my father's hands had touched, and in this way I felt
close to him. That was simply it.
Most of the other addresses had changed by my 19th
Birthday and I didn't find any of daddy's other friends, until their
names started appearing in the backs of the Ford Books, and online and
all over the world.
I feel pain in my stomach. It is very emotional to
see all these young friends of dads grow older, while I am still just
discovering a man of 27 years old. The hardest thing is, in the
process, I have bypassed my fathers life. With tears I say this. It
just doesn't seem fair that someone has so much to offer and he dies,
and he leaves me here. I guess I feel my purpose is to show his
original purpose. My purpose in life---my reason to live, is simply to
tell everyone and show everyone what dad was doing, thinking, feeling,
saying---because it honestly seems so extraordinarily worthwhile.
And so, another year goes by, and still many
mystery's remain about my father. My uncle said at Christmas that my
father called me the White Tornado because I was so full of
energy and would run all over the house leaving toys and things behind
(when I was a 2 year old). I can imagine what a handful I was, because my
son was the same with me. History does indeed repeat itself they
say.
My mother was very glad to see me even though we
could only make the 11 hour drive and only stay for 3 days and drive
back 11 hours due to my husbands work at the time. I am exhausted
due to my illness and the needed medical things I must do on a daily
basis. The drive is very hard on me.
I am still working very hard on finding
information about my father although it is very emotional at times I
must say. I worked on the project while at mothers house. I actually found all
of my baby congratulations notes to me. Some were Western
Union, some beautiful pink notes, and others, very funny.
I found out, due to a show that my daddy dearly loved that he and
his friends dubbed me the Mini Spy. That does seem
appropriate!
I must sign off and get needed rest. My Car Show
Co-ordinator and Friend says first thing on my list is to keep
healthy so that I can continue to work to find all the information
about dad and what was happening during his time with Ford.
Our goals for 2007 are as following:
1. The Phil Clark Foundation --- the
paperwork is complete for a non-profit organization HONORING Phil
Clark in memory of the man, the designer, the artist, writer, poet,
songwriter, musician, comic, and all around talented, charismatic
person. A man who died young and needlessly. A man who should be
remembered and whose works should be showcased instead of lost
forever.
2. The initial goal of the Phil Clark Foundation is
to care of the historical documents that have been found and preserve
them properly for generations to come. Long Term Goal- A Museum.
3. Another goal is to research and find out where in history (as it is)
these documents belong. (Example, if they are missing parts to
something, we would like to help 'fill in the blanks' as the term may
be). Long Term Goal- Online Research and A Research Document Housing
place in the Museum.
4. In the process we would like to keep the memory
of the Man (Phil Clark), his ideas, and his advanced works alive.
We would like to do things the way he would do things to the best of
our ability.
5. Any money that would be raised as profit in this
non-profit organization, we would like to go to fund important
projects that would be in align with his love of life and his beliefs.
Currently, this year and last year, we sent money * to
children in need of kidney dialysis during summer camp (as Phil was on
dialysis) and to Urological research (to help find a cure for current
Urological disorders), and the Miracle League for people with
disabilities, (as Phil was disabled with debilitating
incurable disorders during his teenage and young adult hood).
6. Finally, these goals may add/change somewhat as
information is gathered. For example: This was originally just a
search for information about Phil Clark, now we have that information
and we must do something with it, therefore the goal changed somewhat,
but only because of new information.
*note (even though there have not been
any profits as of yet and we are not currently funded by anyone)
The Mini Spy...
Detective Holly Clark
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