James R McClelland

Dec. 13, 1928 - June 8, 2013

Resident of Concord, California

Jim McClelland, son of Roland Hill McClelland and Mary Cherry McClelland, husband of the late Hilda Hedrick McClelland, father of Scott, Jamie, Rebecca, and Jill, grandfather of eight, great grandfather of two, and uncle of thirty-four nieces and nephews, succumbed to complications of Alzheimer’s disease Saturday June 8, 2013 in Rocklin, California.

Born the fifth of eight children on December 13, 1928 in Kansas City, he excelled in school, graduating early from Westport High School where he starred in football at running back, and was voted most handsome in his class. After graduation he was also the head coach of the Westport freshman football team for one season, calling it “one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life”.

After volunteering for the Navy he completed naval flight training at NAS Pensacola, FL in N2S and SNJ aircraft, and was discharged with the rank of Lieutenant, Junior Grade. He studied civil engineering at the Universities of Kansas and New Mexico, during which time he met and married Hilda Hedrick on February 10, 1951. He was also drafted by the Army at the start of the Korean War, and served in a combat engineer battalion in France.

He then pursued a career in refinery and chemical plant engineering in Kansas City with Pritchard Engineering and C.W. Nofsinger, accepting frequent field assignments at oil refineries and chemical plants in the western U.S.

In 1960 he moved himself and his family to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he joined Bechtel Corporation and settled in Concord. At Bechtel he traveled extensively for field assignments in locations as far flung as Montreal, Tokyo, and London. He also completed numerous upgrade and expansion projects at Bay Area refineries before retiring in 1985.

Away from work he was a jack of all trades, always maintaining his cars himself, and making numerous improvements to his home. He also pursued his love of the open road, taking his family on long driving vacations, first in a ‘57 Chevrolet station wagon, and later a ‘65 Olds VistaCruiser, visiting numerous national parks in the western states. There was nothing he enjoyed more than to drive 500 miles in a day to a place he had never been and then do it again to another place the next day and the day after. In retirement he renewed this love affair with a Dodge diesel fifth wheel pickup and travel trailer, making several long trips to sightsee and visit family in far flung locations.

He also pursued his love of aviation by attending numerous air shows around Northern California. If an SNJ trainer was on display he would always linger before it as it brought back memories of carrier landings in the Navy. At the age of 72 he was reunited with his beloved SNJ during a one hour flight, a birthday gift from his children, and to his great delight, performed an inside loop before returning safely to earth.

A memorial service will be held at 1:00 P.M., Friday, June 21 at Mount Vernon Memorial Park in Fair Oaks, California.