Upon her birth, she was recognized as the eldest of four children. She was the daughter of Nada Naomi Nation and Richard Hazel Ryan. In 1924, she and her family moved to Wellington, New Zealand. When they got there, her father became the national vice president of the Federated Seamen's Union of New Zealand.[1]
After she left school, Clark worked as a clerical worker in a union office. When she became 22 years old, she married a man named Horace Peile Challen Clark on the 6th of July, 1945.[1]
