MONTPELIER — Rep. Greg Clark, R-Vergennes was recovering well on Wednesday from surgery just hours after suffering what his wife, Eileen, called a “major heart attack” at his hotel in Montpelier on Tuesday evening.
“He sounded like his old self today,” Eileen Clark said during a brief phone conversation on Wednesday as the Addison Independent went to press.
Clark, 63, was in his hotel room Tuesday evening he began experiencing some of the classic symptoms of a heart attack, Eileen said. Those symptoms can include chest discomfort, shortness of breath, nausea and lightheadedness.
Eileen said her husband called the hotel front desk to arrange for an ambulance, which whisked him to Central Vermont Medical Center. He was soon transferred to Fletcher Allen Healthcare, where physicians inserted some arterial stents.
“They kept telling us how fortunate he was,” Eileen said. “It was a big (heart attack).”
Clark, a longtime teacher at Mount Abraham Union High School, was elected to the House in 2002 and has been re-elected by comfortable margins ever since. He and fellow Rep. Diane Lanpher, D-Vergennes, represent the Addison-3 House district, which includes Addison, Ferrisburgh, Panton, Vergennes and Waltham.
Clark serves on the House Education Committee.
Eileen said her husband’s prognosis is good, and that after rest he could be back in the Statehouse by early next month, after the Legislature’s traditional one-week break for town meeting.
“For the next week or so, he has to take it easy,” Eileen said.
Meanwhile, Lanpher said she will collect committee homework for her district-mate and keep him on top of goings-on under the Golden Dome.
“I’m very shocked,” she said of the news of Clark’s heart attack. “We share this district, and I am here to help.”
Reporter John Flowers is at [email protected].