November was particularly cruel on the deaths front in Arlington. Among those lost were historian Charlie Clark and local political/civic leader Richard Barton.
Clark, an Arlington native, was a chronicler of the community, past and present, with an engaging style whether in written form or giving a presentation to a community gathering.
Barton came to Arlington in the late 1960s by way of Louisiana politics. He ran for local office once – losing a County Board bid in 1975, a bad year for Democrats in Arlington – but was better known as a behind-the-scenes force to be reckoned with, both solo and with his wife, Jean Barton.
Clark and Barton were pleasures to spend time with (we saw each within a few weeks of their deaths), and each in his own way has left a positive imprint on the community.
At a time when many in Arlington’s community discourse neither know, nor seem to care, who came before their arrival on the scene, it’s worth noting those who did. Time marches on and inevitably we lose earlier generations, but if we can learn from them, they truly are never gone.
