              |
 |
 December 2006 Back to Table of Contents Back to Archives Main Page Section: Feature Frank Clark By Elena Cala Buscarino
Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark is an intensely private man leading a public life. He feels that his high visibility is an unintentional by-product of his chosen career. Western New Yorkers would be surprised at the difference between the public figure and the private man. Clark approaches his weekends and holidays with great anticipation, and does his best to put work behind him. “People who are all-consumed with their work may be good at it, but they’re boring. They need other pursuits,” Clark says. Frank Clark has managed to make his life the best balancing act in town. In his often emotionally wrenching job as the county’s DA, Clark is as bold and unapologetically honest as he can be. As a pragmatist and overseer of the legal public, he pulls no punches and he comes by his opinions in a series of rational steps that lead him to a logical conclusion. “I don’t mince words. I do my best to be direct and sincere, and I will not avoid a question, even if it may hurt me,” Clark states. Clark knows that the stress of a job like his could be crippling, if he allowed it to be. Therefore, he and Cathy, his wife of 34 years use their weekends as a regenerative haven against the week just past, and the one ahead. “I jealously guard my weekends,” he emphasizes. He’ll go out if dragged, but he feels that if he gets caught in the political and social swirl, he will feel as if he’s had no weekend at all. On weekends, the Clark’s occupy one of their two homes: one in Chautauqua, on the Mayville side of the lake, and their newly acquired home at Gull Landing on the Buffalo waterfront. The condo came about as a result of Cathy’s insistence for years that they consider the move, one that Clark “resisted with every fiber of my being!” He now concedes that he absolutely loves their condominium that Cathy says is “like being in a hotel room I can’t afford.” Clark refers to his Chautauqua home as a spiritual home rather than a second home. The Buffalo place is home home and within a month the house was Cathy’s in every way, and he couldn’t be happier. In fact, it is Cathy, a retired school teacher (who has adopted three new jobs to replace that one), who was often in charge of home and yard at their previous residence of 31 years. Clark recalls the Douglas fir the couple planted the year they moved in, and how Cathy, in her zeal for decorating, would often be the one to trudge out in the snow in boots, coat and nightgown to fiddle with a strand of darkened lights. Clark himself was usually inside during these times, escaping work through reading (nothing serious), watching cartoons, or indulging in his favorite pastime — cooking. Clark says his favorite activity is cooking and eating at home with Cathy, and a good bottle of wine. His next favorite involves having friends in for a meal. Some years ago, Cathy started to have Clark’s Gourmet and Bon Appetite magazines bound into volumes. When they began to take over the house, Clark culled his favorites into a compendium of the best of twenty-five years worth of recipes in three volumes. A patient and thorough cook, he will take all of the time he needs in preparation for a classic dish by creating the stock himself. Julia Child is his hero. Clark jokes that as an assistant DA he was second in command at work and at home. Now he likes to say that he may be the boss at work, but he’s still the underling at home. As such, he sees cooking as the perfect Sunday duty. “I can cook while I watch a ball game, and I look busy! Then at the end of the day, I have a great meal to enjoy overlooking the water.” When asked about his most requested dish, the DA shifts a little in his seat. “It used to be coq au vin, but now it’s a casserole with veal, ham and mushrooms. It sounds funny, but it’s good, and I never saw it in any restaurant.” When pressed further he says it was in an obscure magazine, long ago. “It was called Busy Day Dinner and I don’t know why because it takes all day to make. “I tell people it’s an old family recipe,” showing his easy sense of humor. When asked if he is referring to what he tells his dinner guests — his friends — he laughs and says, “Yep. I look ‘em square in the eye and I lie through my teeth.” He explains, “We think we’re so sophisticated when really, the best recipes come from peasant dishes. The best reflect our own personalities and come from sturdy, hearty people with deep loving relationships.” This brings him around to discussing Buffalo, its people, and the friendships here. “A friend here is a friend for life,” Clark says. “The way we socialize and interact here reflects our special nature. It exemplifies the wonderful character of the area. I have friends outside of this city who would die to have what I have. They say I will never understand my quality of life and how lucky I am.” But Clark does understand and he loves every minute of it. He muses about how the B-Quik on Hertel Avenue used to be his second office before moving from North Buffalo, but now it’s the Wegman’s on Amherst and the one in Lakewood, New York, where people approach him with their concerns, fears and opinions. Clark doesn’t mind being addressed as Frank by strangers. “I like that people are comfortable in coming up and expressing themselves,” he says. He goes on to say that when a political figure thinks that they are appointed by God, they’re in trouble. Frank Clark says he never forgets that it was the will of the people that put him in office, and that he is only renting space, the public being his landlord. Brooklyn born, Clark doesn’t even consider spending Christmas away from Buffalo, where he has lived since the age of nine. He does feel his place in Chautauqua lends itself well to Thanksgiving, but it brings back a somewhat bittersweet memory of the past. Clark’s sister, Marylou, and his late mother, Mary, were the only family he and Cathy have had in town. For years they typically spent every holiday together. The elder Mrs. Clark worked in retail for more than 40 years. With the biggest shopping day being the day after Thanksgiving, she would never leave Buffalo for the holiday when she was still working...even at the age of 81. “I told her, ‘You can take the day off.’ She said, ‘Would you take your busiest day off?’” Then came the year that Clark and Cathy decided to go for it, and have Thanksgiving by themselves in Chautauqua. His mother came by the following week and said to her son, “Our family is too small and too close to be apart. You will have Thanksgiving where I tell you to have it.” And for the rest of her life, he complied. This Christmas will be the Clark’s first in their new home. Cathy assumes the role of decorator — sometimes a month-long endeavor, with finishing touches as late as New Year’s Eve. He speculates that they own every Gorham star, and that Cathy creates their own in-house firmament of stars and silver. Clark is getting along quite well in his kitchen with a mix of new (his five-burner stove) and old (the heavy Copco pots and pans he won’t part with). He is thinking of making a radical switch from turkey to crown roast this Christmas, but he’s not sure how it will play with his wife and best friend, Cathy. He will enjoy his holiday time off the way he does the rest of his leisure time, by keeping it light and happy. “I don’t need excitement in my time off,” Clark says. “I am the third longest serving DA — soon to be second — and I’m doing what I hoped all along I would be doing. I still feel the thrill of the challenge, but in order to stick with it, you have to be able to step away, or it will eat you alive. I have to reenergize.” When he mentions Christmas in Buffalo, he follows with, “...of course.” When asked why he uses this phrase, the most visible local lawyer with the weightiest opinion tersely states, “Home is home.” back to top back to table of contents Current Issue | About Forever Young | Where to Find | Advertise | Our Advertisers | Community Calendar | Contest | Clubs | Contact Us | Archives | Home |
