Thursday, September 2, 2021
Clay was my good friend in 4th grade. He introduced me to The Beatles, whose arrival in the US (in the aftermath of President Kennedy's death) he tracked with regularity during Current Events presentations in Miss Sorokin's class. I remember he broke his leg in a curious sledding accident and had to wear a cast for a time. Many friends came around to his house to sign it. Clay also introduced me to pool playing and, with his cut-out cardboard creation, the idea of playing the guitar. I remember spending the summer of 1964 with him and a number of other children from the College Avenue area at the Franklin and Marshall indoor pool. I also visited him briefly after his parents moved away from campus to School Lane--that would have been around Christmas time in 1973. Clay was already a decent typist in 4th grade, a skill he was encouraged in by one of his grandfathers, who called him "Clayper." I remember in particular a report Clay made on the people and geography of Iceland. His report instilled in me the idea of visiting Reykjavik, which I still have not done. But I did travel to many other parts of the world, at least in part on account of a fascination for other places that, for a time, I shared with Clay. --Ted Trost
