Melessie Evelyn Reeves Clark, First Lady of the Church of God in Christ (COGIC) Church in the Round of Aliquippa, PA, wife of Melvin E. Clark, Sr., COGIC Bishop Melvin E. Clark, Sr. of the Western Pennsylvania Second Ecclesiastical District, was born December 1, 1930, in Whispering Pines, North Carolina. She was the youngest of four daughters born to Robert and Minnie Reeves.  She departed this life and was called on to glory on November 22, 2021.

Sis. Clark gave her heart to the Lord early in life, beginning the germinal part of her Christian walk as a quiet, but formidable, storm in her local church. At the tender age of 21, God anointed her to spearhead a weekly inspirational prayer and tarry service which drew large crowds every week. Sis. Clark led hundreds of individuals to Christ and saw them receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. However, her ministry did not end at them coming to the Lord.  Rather, it expanded as she continued to encourage and care for them throughout the time they continued their walk with the Lord, efforts which foretold the role she would assume for her entire life.

During that early ministry, then Sis. Reeves met the soon to be COGIC Elder Melvin E. Clark, and the two were married on Thanksgiving Day in 1950.  The union was Blessed with a total of five children -- Melvin Jr., David Lawrence, Kenneth Morris, Vashti Venice and Sherris Lynnette- --- seven grandchildren and one great grandchild, as well as innumerable congregational namesakes. In 1960, the Clark family relocated from a COGIC assignment in Staunton, VA to the First Church of God in Christ in Aliquippa, PA.

Sharing her husband's vision for serving the needs of the neighborhoods of Aliquippa, Sis. Clark worked tirelessly and tenaciously through the planning, funding, and construction of what was a uniquely structured church edifice in the COGIC brotherhood, the Church in the Round, completed in 1970.  Sis. Clark, who became known affectionately as "Little Mama", emerged as a widely-recognized community leader, and as such, she pursued an aggressive evangelical ministry which took her onto the streets, into city shelters and into the prisons. Dubbed "The Hedges and Highways" ministry, she and her acolytes went door to door to spread their message, daringly confronting drug dealers and caring for the unfortunate victims of the drug pandemic.

During this time, Sis. Clark introduced the tradition of the Prayer Breakfast to the region, themed "May I Present Jesus to You". At the services, she and her team served up both hot meals and the doctrine of healing and the word of spiritual redemption to the community, to political leaders, to businesspeople, and to the press.  Indeed, the warrior-like efforts of Sis. Clark and her team to eradicate the illegal drug trade in the Aliquippa area were widely covered by both the local and national media.

News of the Prayer Breakfasts spread even to the White House of the United States. This resulted in Pastor Clark and Sis. Clark having the honor of hosting the President Jimmy Carter's wife, Rosalyn Carter, to spend a night in the Clark home. Bragging about his wife's superior gift of hospitality, Pastor Clark often recalls how "The President's wife slept in 'Little Mama's' nightgown."

Sis. Clark was the founder and President of the Pastors' Wives' Auxiliary. Under her leadership, the Pastors' Wives' Auxiliary committee has held a banquet to honor Black History every year since 1975 and used the platform to promote Black culture and to honor accomplished individuals from all walks of life, including single mothers, students and political, business and community leaders.

Mother and Sister Melessie Clark, the matriarch of the Clark family, traveled throughout the world -- Israel, Haiti, Africa, Korea, Switzerland, and Paris, France – where she shared her passion and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.   She was a holy woman and a compassionate soul. She became a role model for many with her servant's heart and beautiful smile. She loved her nuclear family, she loved her church family and most of all, she loved the Lord who prepared the mansion where she now resides.