Clergue Jones, died December 12 in Bangor, Maine, after a long illness. When at Amherst Clergue hated it—or so he wrote that in letters published in the 20th and 25th year class of ’63 reunion books. However, Clergue, in the second letter, did add that his Amherst education “contributes enormously to my life.” And a varied life it was.
Born in Washington, D.C., Clergue came from Phillips Exeter to Amherst in the fall of 1956. He left in January, 1958, vowing never to return. After work as a stage technician and study at the University of Chicago return he did return in the fall of 1961.
The second time at Amherst Clergue lived in Seelye House, “a refuge for deviates and then the only alternative to dorms and fraternities,” he wrote, admitting later that during senior year he actually lived with a girlfriend in an apartment behind the police station. He graduated with the class of 1963.
Clergue recalled vividly the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and the roar B-52 flying overhead while studying for his history comprehensives. After graduation, he worked for 17 years in juvenile corrections in New York City. In 1988 he wrote that President Ronald Reagan had “changed the nation’s priorities so that now I am finally doing something useful; selling life insurance, mutual funds and the like.” He then lived briefly in a commune, participated in Brooklyn politics, and drove taxi.
Clergue ended up in Maine. In his fifties he earned a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Maine and worked as Town Manager in Cherryfield, a community of about 1200 east of Bangor near the Atlantic coast.
He left a daughter, Rachel (’94), a son Joshua, three grandchildren, a sister and many other family members. A graveside service was held in Bangor.
Neale Adams ’63