Memorial Service for David Clover June 16 in Bondurant
Clover, 26, loved freedom of riding on a 'steel horse'
April 24, 2018
A memorial service for Jackson native, David Nicholas Clover has been scheduled for 1 p.m. June 16 at St. Hubert the Hunter Episcopal Church in Bondurant. A celebration of David’s life and BBQ will follow.
Clover, a former U.S. Marine Corps sergeant, died in a motorcycle accident on March 31 in Phoenix. He was 26.
His family provided the following.
David was born in Jackson on July 30, 1991, the third child of Robin Parks and George Thomas Clover. His parents, along with David's brother, Thomas S. Clover, moved to Bondurant in 1992. David attended elementary school in the one-room school house under the tender tutelage of Terry Postma, and graduated from Pinedale High School in 2009.
David spent his summers working in his family’s outfitting business, traversing the backcountry of Yellowstone National Park and the Teton wilderness. David became a fine horseman and accomplished hunter. While in high school David manned the climbing wall at the Pinedale Aquatic Center, an experience that added to his adventurous spirit.
Before graduating high school, David decided to follow his dreams and enlist in the Marine Corps to serve his country. He went to boot camp in San Diego and was stationed in Twenty Nine Palms, California. David rose through the ranks as he trained in tax preparation and mechanics. He became certified as a Marine Corps martial arts instructor, winning respect along the way with his intellect and enigmatic sense of humor.
While in the Marine Corps, David's love for motorcycles began. This love ran so deep that he later told his family riding his motorcycle was to him like horseback riding was to them: finding his freedom on his steel horse.
In 2014 David received an honorable discharged as a corporal from active duty and returned home to Wyoming, where he served in the Marine Corps Reserves in Camp Williams, Utah while working a variety of oil field jobs in the Pinedale area. David’s love of motorcycles followed and he found much joy in working on his bike and riding the open roads with friends.
Honorably discharged from the Marine Reserves as a sergeant in June, David moved to Meridian, Idaho to be near his brother, maternal grandparents, and multiple aunts, uncles and cousins. It was there David decided on a career as a motorcycle mechanic and began setting the cogs in motion to attend the Universal Technical Institute’s Motorcycle Mechanic Institute in Phoenix. He moved to Arizona in November of 2017 to begin classes and training for this new, exciting chapter of his life.
David had found his niche and excelled at UTI-MMI, consistently testing at the top of his class. He made new friends through school and the Phoenix-based nonprofit Determined Guardians veteran organization. At the time of his death David was doing what he loved: riding his steel horse with friends, the wind in his impressive beard and easy smile beaming.
David is survived by his parents, Robin Parks and George Thomas Clover, of Bondurant; brother Thomas Samuel Clover, of Star, Idaho; grandparents Bonnie and Dr. William Collins, of Sequim, Washington; step-grandmothers Sheryl Parks, of Meridian, Idaho, and Heather Clover, of Etna; uncle Galloway Morris Clover, of Jackson; aunt Clara Elise "Ceci" Clover of Victor, Idaho; aunts and uncles Kendra Parks and Marty Pieroni of Meridian, Idaho, Samantha Parks and Brandon Pitts of Lake Oswego, Oregon, Tia Parks of Lakewood, Washington, Monique Parks and Mike Schiff of Burbank, California, and Tiffany Parks and Claudio Ianniello of Rome, Italy; and a host of loving cousins. He's also survived by his dog Odin, named after the Norse god "Odin the Wanderer."
David is preceded in death by his sister, Clara Elizabeth Clover; grandfather Samuel Conant Parks; grandparents Elise Morris and George Nicolas Clover; and a whole bunch of other adventurous and interesting people who beget them. Amen.
In lieu of flowers the family asks a donation be made to Determined Guardians, 608 E. Griswold Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85020.
The family wishes to thank all the people who made David the special person he was, especially his teachers, schoolmates, friends and fellow steel horse riders, veterans, and his classmates and instructors in Arizona.
What David’s life lacked in years was made up for with his intense loyalty to family and friends, and his indomitable zest to live an enormous life. Follow your own dreams through the wilderness of life. Semper fidelis.
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