Hillsborough stories: Joseph Clark

A father-of-two from Liverpool, Joseph Clark was a fork lift driver and drove to the match with his brother Stephen Clark and David Roberts, who both survived, and another friend, Alan McGlone, who also died in the tragedy.

This is the full statement to the inquests read by his son, Stephen Clark, on behalf of his mother Jacqueline Gilchrist:

Jacqueline Gilchrist speaking on behalf of the Clark family.

Joseph Clark came from a large family. He had five brothers and one sister. He was the third eldest and always loved spending time with his extended family when he was growing up.

'Oey' was quite a shy lad who enjoyed playing football and going out with his mates and brothers. He was very close to his siblings, as well as his Mum and Dad.

He loved it when his extended family had large gatherings. He got to meet those relatives he hadn't seen for a while. Even his aunts and uncles loved him.

Joseph, who was also known as Oey, played football for two local teams and was known for being a speedy winger. One of the teams he played for was the Woodpecker Bar FC. People always commented on how good a player he was, even if he was just kicking a ball about with his mates.

Oey and I met in 1978. I was 16 years old and Oey was 18. We lived around the corner from each other.

'Fell in love'

We met in a club and from then fell in love. We loved each other to bits, and then, four and a half years after we met, we had our first son Joseph, who was born on 31 August, 1982.

Sadly, we lost Joseph on 15 October when he was just six-and-a-half weeks old. Oey was heartbroken.

Stephen was born two years later, on 22 March, 1984. Oey was over the moon and was so excited that he had a son. He nicknamed him BB. They were always playing football together and going on days out on boats up the Mersey.

In 1989, we gave birth to a little girl Jennifer. She was tiny. Oey was scared to pick her up.

The morning of 15 April, 1989, that horrible day, was one of the times that he did pick her up before he left the house. He had been playing football with Stephen outside while holding Jennifer in his arms and swinging her in the air.

His mates arrived in the car to go to the match, so he gave us all a kiss and said 'See you later' and off he went. That was the last thing that he said to us because he never came back from the match.

He was only 29 years old with his whole life in front of him.

'Happy-go-lucky'

Oey was employed by IBL in Liverpool and enjoyed his time working there.

We all miss Oey very, very much. Life has never been the same since he died that horrible day. Our whole lives changed and I never really got over it and we're in still life. I am still the same from that day.

Oey would have been proud of his children now that they are grown up. Stephen remembers lots about him, going to matches with his father and enjoying the time that they spent together.

He loved Liverpool Football Club and I know that he was very proud to be able to take his own son to the matches at Anfield.

Oey has three beautiful grandchildren, who he never had the chance to meet. The eldest, Joseph, was born on New Year's Eve ,2005. Lee was born in 2008 and his grand-daughter, Daisy, was born on 27 July, 2012 but unfortunately Daisy only lived 12 days before she passed away.

Joseph loved life to the full. He was always happy-go-lucky and forever with a smile on his face. He is missed by all of us who were lucky enough to have known him.