Clark was born December 29, 1928 and grew up in Catlettsburg in Eastern Kentucky during the Great Depression. He was a second cousin of writer Jesse Stuart. He had three brothers and four sisters, and was born to a mother who would wash clothes for extra income, while his father was a shoemaker who bragged of having made it to the second grade.
University of Kentucky.
He was living on his own by the time he was 11 years old, doing work to pay for high school, while living in a courthouse building. He would put out miles of trotlines and set traps to catch animals, drying the skins of the animals he caught on the courthouse"s clock and selling the furs to make a living. He enlisted in the military and served during the Korean War following his graduation from high school.
P. Personal The Billy C. Clark Bridge, which crosses the Big Sandy River on United States. Route 60 to connect Kentucky and Kenova, West Virginia, was named for him in 1992.
Clark died at age 80 on March 15, 2009 at his home in Farmville, Virginia.
After completing military service, he enrolled at the University of Kentucky, becoming the first member of his family to earn a college degree.
