The House on Center Street

There is a house on Center Street. Lamar and Carol Clark moved in with their young family over 50 years ago. He worked hard at a steel mill. The wages weren’t much but they got by.

Seven children called that house home. Eighteen grandchildren did too - and their children. Throughout most of their lives, no matter what changed, one thing remained constant – that house on Center Street.

It isn’t a particularly remarkable house. A one-story red brick rancher far enough up the road from Main Street that when it was built, there wasn’t much around; other than a few farms and some orchards. Most who passed by probably never gave it a second thought, but for Lamar and Carol, their seven children, eighteen grandchildren and countless others who entered, it was much more.

There is a house on Center Street. But it isn’t just a house. By most measurements of success, Lamar and Carol wouldn’t stand out from the crowd. They never achieved much in the way of academic, professional or financial success. But to those who knew them, they achieved something much greater – Lamar and Carol had built a home.

There is a home on Center Street. It was built by a humble couple using all they really had in abundance – love. Love was always present. Unconditional love.

In building that home on Center Street, Lamar and Carol achieved the greatest of all. They built a legacy of love. For that house is just a house; and someday, a new family will call it home. But in some ways, it’s much more. For all who entered that house on Center Street, it is a symbol.

“This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (St. John 15:12-13)



After Grandpa died, I sometimes wondered why Grandma didn’t move away to somewhere more exciting – to see new things – to experience the World. While I looked up to my grandparents, I often viewed their life as old-fashioned and quaint. Why spend your entire life in the same town and the same house when there is an exciting World out there with so much to do and see?

When I returned to Springville to see my Grandma one last time, I understood. As she lay on her deathbed, I was struck by the seemingly endless stream of family, friends and loved-ones coming by to express their love and appreciation for Carol Clark. These then were the reasons she stayed. In their own quiet way, Carol and her sweetheart Lamar touched more hearts and changed more lives than could ever be expected from two small-town kids.

As I wandered down Center Street on a sunny January afternoon, I contemplated the remarkable story of my Grandma and Grandpa Clark. They didn’t choose the life they did for themselves – they gave their lives in the service of Him they loved most and in His hands they found the greatest of all, love.