Services will be held at 10 a.m. on Monday, May 24, at St. Luke the Evangelist in Ankeny. Friends may call from 1 to 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 23, at Ankeny Funeral Home and Crematory, 1510 West First Street, Ankeny. There will be a prayer service at 4 p.m.
Born May 20, 1956 in Lancaster, Wisconsin to Earl and Phyllis (Ertz) McClain, Dennis attended Wahlert Catholic High School in Dubuque and graduated with a B.A. degree from Loras College. In eighth grade he joined the Colts Drum & Bugle Corps organization and went on to perform with the corps as a drummer for a number of years, making lifelong friendships and meeting his future wife Patty, who was in the rifle section.
Dennis, like the rest of his siblings, was put on the job at his dad’s lawn and fencing business when he reached middle-school age and was rewarded for his contributions with bologna sandwiches and Mountain Dew. Later, he worked for 33 years for Allstate Insurance and received several awards for his distinguished service at the company. His work often found him driving across Iowa and Nebraska, and he enjoyed that it gave him the chance to see new places and help people who were having trouble.
Though committed to his work, Dennis sometimes passed up professional opportunities so that his children, Andrew and Katie, could grow up in Iowa near their grandparents and extended families. He loved spending time with both the McClains and Mathises, and both families were large enough that between holiday gatherings, vacations, visits from out-of-town relatives, baptisms and first communions, graduations, baseball and basketball games, and get-togethers to go golfing or bowling, there was often no time to do anything else.
Dennis, Patty, Andrew, and Katie were big fans of the Packers, the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Iowa State Cyclones, and were Cyclones season ticket holders for about 10 years. This April, Katie and Andrew took him to see the Cardinals’ first home game. He told them it was the perfect day.
Dennis was kind, sincere, and fun. Whether it was a kid’s birthday or a late-night card game for the grown-ups, he was the heart of the party and put everyone around him at ease. A loving and committed father, he was adored by his grandchildren and his many nieces and nephews. He was a person of great faith and strength, but expressed himself through humility and humor. He made the people around him laugh every day and made every room he was in a better place to be.
We wish we had gotten more time with Dennis, but we were lucky to spend the hours and years with him that we did.
Surviving are his wife of 40 years, Patricia; his children Andrew (Michelle) McClain, of Des Moines, and Kathryn McClain, of Ankeny; his siblings Sheila (Ron) Wetjen, of Peosta, Mike McClain, of Dubuque, Steve (Terry) McClain, of East Dubuque, Ill., Pat (Pam) McClain, of Dubuque, Jim (Diane) McClain, of Dubuque, Kathleen (Rog) Klosterman, of Dubuque, and John (Janet) McClain, of Walnut Creek, Calif.; his mother-in-law Marge Mathis of Des Moines; his in-laws Sue (Joe) Mathis-Lilley, of Fort Collins, Colo., Lynne (Erik) Opstad, of Anchorage, Alaska, and Mary (Joe) Aleccia, of Clearwater Beach, Fla; and his grandchildren Cash and Liam Wells and Jackson McClain, as well as Brooks McClain, who is still on the way. Dennis is preceded in death by his parents Earl and Phyllis McClain, his sister-in-law Tania McClain, and his father-in-law Merle Mathis.
Donations in lieu of flowers may be given to Mayo Clinic, the Food Bank of Iowa, or the Des Moines Catholic Worker.
The family would like to thank Dr. Matthew Hill, nurse Amber, and scheduler Christy of Mission Cancer + Blood as well as Dr. Trey Mullikin of Mayo Clinic.
