Mark Clayton
Written by Justin D. Lamb
Photo Courtesy of County Clerk Tim York
Mark Cunningham Clayton was born on July 13, 1915 in the Calloway County community of Dexter to Dr. C.E. Clayton and Irene Dexter Clayton. When Clayton was only seven years old his family moved to the town of Birmingham in Marshall County where his father opened up a large medical practiced. Clayton attended the schools in Birmingham where he played basketball and he graduated from Birmingham High School in 1933.
After high school, Clayton enrolled in Business College, but after only one year he had to put his education on hold when both of his parents and his grandmother passed away from pneumonia within a two week span. Clayton eventually returned to college where he graduated around 1937. Clayton returned to Birmingham and went to work for Minus Cox at the Bank of Birmingham. In early 1938, Clayton was moving up in the banking industry and he received a job in Louisville at a Federal Reserve Bank. A few years later, Clayton married Miss Josephine Locker and together they would have one child, Jerilyn Clayton.
Clayton volunteered for military service in 1943 and was sent to Camp Blanding in Florida and Fort Devens in Massachusetts for training. As an infantryman, Clayton was shipped overseas to Scotland and later England. Ten days after D-Day, Clayton crossed the English Channel and entered combat in Saint Lo, France. Clayton served as a gunner and handled light mortars. After three weeks in combat, Clayton was wounded in eventually lost a leg. In May 1945, Clayton received the Purple Heart and was medically discharged and returned home to Marshall County.
After the war, Clayton planned on returning to banking in Louisville, but a few of his friends in Marshall County approached him about running for County Court Clerk. In an oral history interview conducted in 1983 with Dr. Ray Mofield, Clayton recalled being hesitant at first about making a run for the office, “I talked to my boss in Louisville about the situation and he said ‘There is nothing for you to lose. You go on and make that race and if you are successful then fine and if you get defeated then you come on back up here and go to work.’ So under that condition I made the race and the people of Marshall County were very nice to me.” Clayton entered the Democratic Primary and defeated his opponent in a landslide.
As County Clerk, Clayton became heavily involved with the Marshall County Democratic Party and in 1946 he was named Chairman of the Democratic Party’s Veterans Committee. Two years later, Clayton was elected Chairman of the Marshall County Democratic Executive Committee. After serving his first term, Clayton was easily re-elected County Court Clerk in 1949 receiving 2,442 votes, which was the most votes of any candidate for any office on the ballot.
Above: Mark Clayton (middle) at the 1953 Grand Opening of the Bank of Benton
Photo courtesy of Marshall County Archives
In 1953, Clayton kept with a two term tradition and did not seek a third term as County Court Clerk. Since 1948, Clayton had been on the Board of Directors of the Bank of Benton, so he was offered a position as Assistant Cashier with after his term of County Clerk expired. In 1960, Clayton was promoted to Cashier of the Bank of Benton and by 1967, he was promoted once again this time as Vice President and Trust Officer. During the administrations of County Judge Pal G. Howard and Billy Watkins, Clayton was appointed to the budget commission which helped the Marshall County Fiscal Court create the yearly operational budget. On June 26, 1973, Clayton announced his retirement from the Bank of Benton. However in 1979, Clayton returned to banking when he was named chairman of the Bank of Benton, a position he held until 1985.
Throughout his career, Clayton was active in the Marshall County Rotary Club and he served as President and Secretary. Clayton was a longtime member of the Briensburg Baptist Church and was a Sunday School teacher and treasurer for thirty seven years. He also was a trustee of the Marshall County Public Library.
In the 1990s, Clayton and his wife moved to Murfreesboro, Tennessee with their daughter. On March 16, 2002, Mark Clayton passed away at Tennessee Veterans Home in Murfreesboro. He was laid to rest in the Birmingham Cemetery in Marshall County.