Wilfred "Clay" Clayton Wilhelm Jr.

Wilfred Clayton Wilhelm Jr, “Clay” was born July 20, 1940 at Emanuel Hospital in Portland, Oregon, and grew up in the Eastmoreland neighborhood. He attended Duniway Grade School for eight years and then Cleveland High School for four years, graduating in 1958.

Clay spent a lot of years as a young person working on his grandfather’s farm in Stafford, Oregon west of Lake Oswego, and also managed a paper route for the Oregon Journal in the afternoons. In high school he wasn’t a big participant in sports, but worked all the time at audio-visual and backstage duties for school theater productions, and was a member of the Thespians Society. He also worked as an usher at the Moreland Theater in Westmoreland. After graduation, Clay worked three summers behind the scenes at Portland Civic Theater downtown on productions of Guys and Dolls, The Pajama Game, and Oklahoma!

He began work in the funeral industry on September 1, 1958 at his family’s mortuary in the Westmoreland area of Portland, McGinnis & Wilhelm. After his father’s partner, Horace C. McGinnis died, it became Wilhelm Funeral Home. Clay was married on July 22, 1961 to the mother of his children, and in January of 1962, they moved to San Francisco, California so that Clay could attend the San Francisco College of Mortuary Science, which was the closest school offering the program at that time. School was a full 12 months, five days per week, with only two weeks off in summer and two at the holidays. He lived in an old city hotel that had been converted to apartments while studying his trade. Years later, Mt. Hood Community College opened a funeral service program that extended the course of study to two years, but Clay worked hard in San Francisco and attained his license. His family also operated two other funeral homes – Jacobson Family Funeral Home, which later became Foster Road Funeral Home, and Milwaukie Funeral home, which they built in 1964. These two businesses were later sold to the Stehn family. He continued with Wilhelm for a total of 28 years, including four in which he leased the business from his parents. After a very brief time away from the industry, in 1987 he was hired to work for Gateway Little Chapel of the Chimes, (then owned by the Uniservice Corporation), which also operated about 20 funeral homes and cemeteries between southern Oregon to north of Seattle. He worked at several of their locations in the Portland area, spending many years at Killingsworth Little Chapel of the Chimes, where he in addition to regular funeral home duties he learned to operate the crematory.

In 1995, Uniservice Corporation was sold to Service Corporation International (SCI) out of Houston, Texas, and Clay stayed at Killingsworth until SCI decided to close the location in 2005 and merge it with Ross Hollywood Chapel. At the same time, they made Ross Hollywood a central care center for the Portland market, and he asked to be placed in charge of the crematory. He then worked with distinction at the Portland Care Center until July of 2020, retiring as the longest-serving employee of the Care Center and probably one of the last Uniservice employees still working for SCI.

In earlier years, Clay lived for over ten years in Milwaukie, Oregon, where his two children were born – Thomas Michael Wilhelm on January 13, 1964 and Kay Louise Wilhelm on June 27, 1965. Tom preceded his father in death on January 5, 2020. Clay joined the Milwaukie Kiwanis Club and served for a year as president, and was a member when the club closed. He was also a member of the Milwaukie Elks Lodge for over 50 years.

Having grown up in the Episcopal Church, Clay joined New Hope Community Church in 1982, and became involved working with ushering and their New Hope Positive Singles group, and it was there he met Patricia DeYott, who became his wife on August 7, 1987. The couple were very active in marriage ministries and the annual church marriage retreat in Cannon Beach, Oregon, where about 50 couples attended together for almost 20 years.

Clay and Pat did a lot of traveling, including trips to Egypt, Israel, Germany, Switzerland, and several other destinations. While in Israel, they were baptized in the River Jordan, floated in the Dead Sea, and saw many of the holy places that brought the bible to life for them. They also took many cruise vacations with family and friends, and visited many east and west coast locations in the United States (including an American Heritage tour), and several places in Canada. One of their favorite things to enjoy together was attending performances of Southern Gospel musical groups when they visited from out of state, including a number of big names who sung at New Hope Church during west coast tours.

Clay is survived by his wife of nearly 34 years, Patricia Wilhelm;

Daughter Kay Wilson and husband Kurt, and their children Christopher and Connor;

Sisters Barbara Menard, and Janice McCall and husband Scott and their children Katie and Joe.

Children Denise Beaudoin and husband Gene, their children Kristen and Mike and his wife Megan, and their grandchildren Taylor, Lilly, Addi, Malory, and Caiden;

Cherri Anders and husband Tim, their children Kara and her husband Dusty and Kayla and her husband Jordan, and grandchildren Cooper, Corbin, Hailee, Timber, and Juniper;

Ray DeYott, his wife Rachel, and their daughter Angelica Rose;

In lieu of flowers, the family would be grateful for donations in Clay’s name to either Open Arms International, at openarmsinternational.org or the Juvenile Diabetes Association, at jdrf.org

A visitation will take place on Thursday, August 5, 2021 from 4-8 pm at Lincoln Memorial Funeral Home, 11801 SE Mt. Scott Blvd in Portland. Clay’s life will be celebrated at 1:00 pm on Friday, August 6, 2021 at New Hope Church, 10603 SE Henderson Street in Portland, followed by a 3:00 pm reception at Lincoln Memorial. Entombment will be private family.