“The military puts an emphasis on what you did and not who you are. It accents the importance of teamwork. Being in the navy broadened my view and interest on the world, both from the places we visited and the people you live close to while being on the ship,” Gene Clay states.

Clay was born on June 28th, 1937. He was born and raised on the north side of Des Moines on the First of New York Street. Although Clay lived on the north side, he attended Tech High School, which closed in 1986, and studied auto diesel mechanics. He states that he did not partake in clubs or sports in high school because he had a part time job and worked until ten o’clock most nights.

Clay met his wife of sixty-three years when he was fourteen years old at his church. They have three sons that all attended North High School: Tom, Steve, and Brian. They also have four grandchildren, two of which attended North.

Gene Clay joined the navy in June of 1955. “I signed up because I was dating your grandma and she had four older brothers. One joined the marines and was in Korea during the Korean War. The other three were in their twenties and were drafted and sent to Europe. I didn’t want my life to be interrupted when i was in my twenties so I joined the navy. They had a program where if you joined by your eighteenth birthday, they will have you out by your twenty first birthday. I graduated in early June so I could sign up for the Navy,” Clay explains.

While being in the navy, Clay remembers cruising by the USS Arizona, which was sunk in the World War Two attack. The ship was too damaged to the extent that they could not save it. “It was a pretty sobering experience but worth doing.”

Clay also took a trip to Sydney, Australia. “The people were so glad to see us that they stopped a buddy and I and took us home to have dinner. That guy then wrote a letter to his wife about how he enjoyed meeting us. They really believed the Japanese would have invaded them but the American’s presence stopped it.”

He remembers going to the Philippines and it being very hot all day. They had to be at work by six in the morning and didn’t get off until two in the morning. After working all day, the men would go to the beach and try to cool off.

“One of the activities we used to do at night was project and watch movies on the ship,” Clay explains. “We would trade the movies with other ships once we were done with them.”

Gene Clay joined the navy in June and was discharged in May, three years later.

After coming home, Clay moved back to Des Moines and continued growing his family. He tried making a living off selling sports cars. “I wasn’t going to be happy working as an auto mechanic which is what I studied in high school.”

Gene Clay decided to go to Grand View Junior College for two years while maintaining a part time job. After the two years was up, Clay went to Drake University but had to drop out to get a full time job because of their new born baby, Brian Clay.

Following the birth of their new born, Clay had many jobs like delivering milk to retail stores and selling sports cars. Eventually Gene Clay found a job at two insurance companies as an under writer. He stayed there until he retired as being a part owner of the company.

“I was very fortunate to have a couple fellows that believed in me and taught me the ways of the business. I saw it scroll from eight employees to a total of fifty.”

Today, Gene Clay likes to travel, read mystery novels, follow up on the Hawkeyes on the Internet, and go to their football and basketball games. Clay also is a former member of the North High Booster Club and still supports his grandchild that attends North today.