Edith Mattiat Clark

Edith Mattiat Clark was born on December 1, 1935 in Berlin. She arrived in this world in a time and place of great upheaval and uncertainty. Her early childhood was full of simple pleasures of family, friends, music, and place, and surrounded by a world where fear and the coming of war overshadowed all things. These two forces shaped her deeply.

She and her family survived that time in the way that many did, by skillfully staying out of the way of trouble, and through sheer luck. Through more of that luck, and in large part because her father spoke English, they were able to move to the United States, emigrating through Ellis Island like so many others, and then driving from New York to their new home in Cleveland.

In the fifties the Mattiat family moved to Santa Barbara. Edith was the first female Vice President at SBCC. She went to school, worked, and eventually met her husband to be, Dr. Jerry Clark, up at the Plow and Angel Bar. Jerry went back into the Army, and for the years that followed they moved from posting to posting overseas and in the US. Along they way had a son, Jon.

In the early seventies they all moved back to Santa Barbara and made it their home for good. Edith was able to let her artistic talents flow and was a regular at Adult Education, mostly doing ceramics. She worked at Robinsons and Elmes Travel. She loved to travel, and went pretty much everywhere, all through the US, Europe, Africa, Asia, and even Antarctica – which was a favorite. Edith and Jerry had great friends, near and far, with whom they shared food, wine, travel, music and laughs.

In later life Edith devoted herself to her family, supporting Susan and Jon in every way she could, and being a wonderful grandmother to Austin, Nate and Sarah. When Jerry died she opened a new life chapter, becoming very involved in pretty much anything related to classical music, and volunteering at the Assistance League and at the Music Academy of the West.

Mostly, Edith was just a wonderful Mother, Grandmother and friend. She loved people, music, art and dove into pretty much any conversation she could find. Her ebullient personality made others happy. She always had kind things to say. She was an aesthetic soul through and through. She was passionate about politics.

Edith died of pancreatic cancer on April 29th. She was supported by friends and family during these last two months, but in truth, she supported all of us as well, with love, wisdom, kindness and grace – and lots and lots of stories about her life and what she learned along the way.
Her memorial service will be on June 26, and she asked that any gifts in her memory be directed to Camerata Pacifica and the Assistance League.