Joe Clark was born in New Orleans and moved with his family to Port Sulphur in 1964. In 1966 he married and moved to Venice, where he has lived since. He worked 3 days in the oil fields before his first employer discovered that he was 16 years old, too young for the job. He worked many years for the Press family, who owned Empire Machine Works, with business operations in Boothville and Venice that served oil companies' supply and repair needs.