More than 400 people attended a Michigan memorial service Saturday for a U.S. Army nurse who died suddenly in Afghanistan while video chatting with his wife.
Capt. Bruce Kevin Clark's family and friends gathered in the Addison Middle School gym and shared memories of the 43-year-old. They described him as a devoted husband and father, and as a loyal friend who dedicated his life to public service.
The Daily Telegram in Adrian reported the service started with a silent tribute from uniformed fire department and military veterans. They paused at a display in Clark's honor as they marched in.
Clark was a native of Addison and former member of the Addison Fire Department.
"What a beautiful tribute. A silent tribute can say more than words," said Sister Helen Walling who served as pastor at Clark's former church, St. Mary's on the Lake Catholic Church at Devils Lake.
She recalled Clark as a caring person, saying, "He knew about sharing his talents and gifts, and he did it."
Clark was assigned to a medical center in El Paso, Texas, and then deployed to Afghanistan in March. His wife, Susan Orellana-Clark was in Texas chatting with him via Skype on April 30 when he collapsed at his base in Tarin Kot, Afghanistan.
For two hours, Orellana-Clark tried to get help for her dying husband, before finally seeing military officials enter the room where he lay still.
Initially, Clark's family said they believed he had been shot, and that after he fell his wife could see a bullet hole in the closet behind him. But the Army has said there was no bullet wound on his body and no evidence of foul play. The death remains under investigation.
Although it was the night of April 30 in Texas, Clark's death is officially listed as occurring on May 1, the date in Afghanistan at the time.
A funeral was held Tuesday in Spencerport in western New York. Clark's wife is from Spencerport, and they lived there for six years before he joined the Army in 2006.
During Saturday's service at the Addison school, about 70 miles southwest of Detroit, Jack Clark expressed appreciation for the support shown to his nephew by those who attended.
"I will forever be grateful that God gave him to us," he said. "Thank you from the depths of our hearts to be here to pay tribute to Kevin."
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