Emerson Vincent Clarke Jr.

Emerson V. Clarke, Jr., long-time resident of Bel Air and physicist for the Ballistics Research Laboratory at Aberdeen Proving Ground, died on June 25 from complications of pneumonia at Upper Chesapeake Hospital. He was 85.

Emerson Vincent Clarke, Jr., was born in Overlea on December 26, 1923, the second child of the late Emerson and Isabella (Hopps) Clarke. His family moved to 3043 Mayfield Avenue in 1929 and he attended the Shrine of the Little Flower. He graduated from the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute in 1941.

From 1941 until his induction into the army in 1944, he helped construct the B-26 Marauder at the Glenn L. Martin, Co., as a quality control supervisor in the First Operation, Outer Wing, Surface and Float Department.

Mr. Clarke served in Company C, 417th Infantry Regiment, 76th Division, in the European theater during the Ardennes and Central Europe campaigns. He saw combat crossing into Germany at Echternacht, Luxembourg. Following a period of hospitalization, he was assigned to the 218th Signal Depot Company stationed in Wales and served with them in the Army of Occupation in Osterholz-Scharmbeck, Germany. He was discharged as a Master Sergeant in 1946 to accept a civil position with the unit.

He graduated from Loyola College in 1950 with a B.S. degree in physics and completed graduate courses offered by the University of Delaware. He was employed with the Ballistics Research Laboratory (BRL) at Aberdeen Proving Ground from 1950 until his retirement in 1979. At BRL, he worked on problems related to ignition, ballistics instrumentation, transducers, and range operations, and he conducted ballistic measurements on a wide range of artillery weapons, to include studies in interior and transitional ballistics.

He moved from Loch Raven Village to Bel Air in 1966, to Grand View Farms in Pylesville, Harford County, in 1979, and then to Vale Woods Estate, Bel Air, in 1994. His marriage to the late Dolores Ross ended in divorce.

Mr. Clarke was active in community work, including writing for The Village Crier in Loch Raven and volunteering with the Catholic Charities, the Christian Family Movement, the Homestead Village Association as treasurer, the St. Margaret's Church as an usher; the John Carroll School on the board of advisors, and the Harford County Draft Board #39.

He is survived by his wife of 30 years, the former Joan V. Koerber; five children, Veronica M. Clarke of Ellicott City, Michael J. Clarke of Ocean City, Martin J. Clarke of Catonsville, Jerome J. Clarke and Lawrence J. Clarke of Los Angeles; stepson Robert Koerber of San Diego; stepdaughter Bonnie Lee Gruse of Bel Air; grandsons Zachary and Nicholas Wolf; granddaughters Jessica and Andrea Clarke; step grandsons Vincent Gruse and Edward Preciado and step granddaughters Patricia and Ruby Preciado of San Diego; brother Edward J. Clarke of Baltimore and his late brother Carroll A. Clarke of Cape Canaveral, Florida.