My Dad's Sense of Humor

If you enjoy what you found here please hit like, subscribe and share today’s video in which Frank explains how his dad's sense of humor influenced his own. It was recorded on the Celebrity Reflection on April 20, 2022. It is part of the Story of My Life series in which he tells his story in his words, with his insights - to his grandsons and unborn progeny. These stories are not in chronological order. They follow no philosophical path. They are being recorded as they are remembered by Frank and put into story form. A few were first done as speeches at Toastmasters.

Frank forgot one great falling story about his dad. When his sons Tom and Frank were young, they lived with his parents on York Street in Kensington for a while. One time, when Frank was at work in the 17th District, they were home with "Grandpop," who was going to take them to Stone Harbor, where "Nana" was waiting. The boys stood at the front door, while grandpop ran upstairs for something. As he got top the top of the stairs he fell and slid all the way, head first down the stirs. Frank and Tom got to witness the whole thing in real time. They ran up and said, "Are you alright, Grandpop?" and he said, without skipping a beat, "Yeah. I'm okay. I know how to fall. Did you know that there are 21 steps there?" He was sore, but broke nothing.

Frank Clark has been many things in his life, from a trash man in Stone Harbor, New Jersey to a police officer in Philadelphia, to a revenue officer at the Internal Revenue Service. He retired in 2019 as a front-line manager in the IRS Appeals office after almost 40 years of government service. He now represents taxpayers who can’t pay the IRS.

Frank graduated from Park College in 1977 with a BA in Management and the University of Miami in 2012 with a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies. His thesis is titled “Maximón: The Shape Shifting Trickster.” He is the author of “Run for YOUR Life” on Apple Books and teaches “One Small Step: Efficiency for Managers” on Udemy.

He surfs, scuba dives, has run 46 marathons, ferments foods, bakes bread, brews beer, has a 1981 VW camper-van, is a throat cancer survivor, is married and has a son, daughter and two grandsons. Frank is currently 69 years old.

It doesn’t matter if you love them, hate them or are offended by them. They were recorded for a specific purpose and Frank is staying true to that. They also weren’t recorded in a studio, so there are background noises in most of them. They were almost all done in one take, with no editing. They are like life: imperfect. If you need to hear what Frank has to say, you will ignore all the distractions.

So…enjoy!