William H. Clark and Antoinette B. Clark: Missionaries to China

This is the story of William. (Hal) Clark and Antoinette (Tony) Clark who met and fell in love in Chinese language school in China in preparation to be Protestant missionaries. They married in 1931 and had three daughters Mary Thayer Clark (1933), Antoinette Gale Clark (1934), and Jean Barber Clark (1939) while in China.

We tell of Tony’s Scotch Irish and Hal’s English forbears and of Hal and Tony’s missionary work in Kunming which was interrupted in 1949 when the Communists came. Their goal of evangelization included the establishment of seminaries to train Chinese clergy who would lead Chinese congregations. Hal and Tony contributed to this and helped found the Tian Nan Middle School for teaching non-Han minorities.

Hal and Tony’s children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, live in the United States. In spite of living in various parts of the United States, members of the family often get together. Sometimes they have returned to China to teach English and renew connections in Kunming.

Keywords: Protestant missionaries, China, Tian Nan Middle School, evangelization, Chinese seminaries