CROZET—Ruby Brent Bussells Clark and Cyrus Clark of Crozet and formally of Kilmarnock will have their ashes interred together at Historic White Marsh Church.
Ruby passed away on Sunday, April 6, 2014. Her devoted husband Cyrus passed away on Friday, May 17, 2024.
Ruby was born February 18, 1925, in Whitehall, Md., to the late William Ernest Bussells and the late Ruby Catherine Brent Bussells. Cyrus was born July 12, 1925, in Baltimore, Md., to the late Cyrus Bain Clark and the late Leah Delephine Toleman Clark.
Both were raised in Kilmarnock, Ruby on Chase Street and Cyrus on Clark Lane. They were friends and classmates in the Kilmarnock High School Class of 1942. After graduation Ruby worked for the Ration Board and Cyrus joined the Navy. On June 15, 1947, they were married at Grace Episcopal and began a remarkable life together.
In the winter of that year they hooked up their tiny house trailer and moved to Washington State where Ruby made that small trailer a home while Cyrus attended Washington State College in Pullman. With income from Cyrus’s many part-time jobs and the benefits of the GI Bill they persevered through lean times and cold winters. In 1954 Cyrus graduated with honors and a degree in architectural engineering.
Just a few years later Cyrus’s employer offered a position in Germany. Ruby and Cyrus jumped at the opportunity. So began a life of travel and adventure with positions in Chicago and London and travel all over the world. It was the life a couple small town kids probably thought they could only dream of.
Upon retirement they returned to Cyrus’s home place on Clark Lane in Kilmarnock and continued their adventures traveling the U.S. in their RV. At home in Kilmarnock, Ruby and Cyrus especially enjoyed fishing with their grandchildren in their boat Gypsy Shoes on the Chesapeake Bay.
Ruby was strong willed, adventurous and courageous. As the daughter of a Merchant Mariner her love of travel was naturally part of who she was. Whether in a travel trailer, a small apartment or a suburban house she created a warm and comfortable home for her family in all her life’s travels and circumstances.
Equally adventurous and courageous, Cyrus was easy going and happy anywhere. He became a friend with everybody he met. He was a patient and pragmatic father with a clear sense of the larger perspective. Cyrus worked for Chicago Bridge & Iron for 35 years and was a consummate professional engineer and diplomatic representative for the company.
Ruby and Cyrus are survived by their four children, Catherine Clark; Jeffrey Clark (Donna); Anne Nealy (Paige); and Cyrus Clark (Rogerio); and their five grandchildren.
Ruby was preceded in death by her parents; her brothers, William “Billy” Bussells and Isaac “Buddy” Bussells; and her sister, Mary Sue Bussells Sparshott.
Along with his parents, Cyrus was preceded in death by his wife, Ruby Brent Bussells; his sisters, Leonard Elizabeth Clark Scott, Jessie Toleman Clark Englar and Mary Louise Clark Rosenthal; and his brother, Carl Bain Clark.
The internment will be on Friday, November 1, at 11:30 a.m.
