Obituary of Jean Grace McClelland

Jean McClelland, 96, of Duluth, died Tuesday June 1, at Essentia Miller Dwan after a long illness.

Jean was born June 23, 1924, to Grace and Albert Nau in Cleveland Hts., Ohio. She graduated from Cleveland Hts. High School and went on to get a degree in Chemistry from Wooster College (Wooster, Ohio) and an MD degree from Western Reserve Medical School (Cleveland, Ohio). She met her husband, John Gibson McClelland (Gib) in medical school, and they got married Dec. 17, 1949. When Gib came down with tuberculosis, Jean moved in with her mother and helped her father-in-law with his pediatric practice. She had her first child while Gib was still in the hospital convalescing from tuberculosis. When Gib recovered, they went on to have five more children. Jean stopped her work as a pediatrician and stayed home to raise her children. When the youngest were in Jr. high school, she and Gib volunteered their time in the health clinics of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa at Nett Lake and Lake Vermillion. At that time, Jean also began seeing pediatric patients at the East Range Clinic, Virginia, Minn. She and Gib retired in 1987 and moved to their cabin on the Pike River Flowage where they enjoyed canoeing the river and hiking and snowshoeing in the woods. Jean continued to enjoy living on the Pike River Flowage after Gib died March 6, 2001, but moved to the Primrose Retirement Community (Duluth) in 2009 in order to live closer to her children. She made dear friends at Primrose and enjoyed the activities for residents (especially the Book Club and the Pontoon Boat Rides on the St. Louis River). She enjoyed trips up the shore with her children and grandchildren, hikes around Duluth and visits to her children in California, Idaho, New Mexico, and New York. In 2016 Jean donated her cabin and the land on the Pike River Flowage to Big City Mountaineers; a non-profit that takes inner-city youth from Minneapolis into the BWCAW.

Jean will be remembered as an active, loving mother and grandmother who loved to use her sewing and needlecraft skills to make gifts for her children and grandchildren. She sewed wedding dresses for her daughters, suit coats for her sons, and mother of the bride dresses for her friends. She knit countless sweaters, mittens, and wool socks for her children and made beautiful cross-stitch samplers that marked the birth of her grandchildren. Most recently her family enjoyed hearing about the latest biography she was reading and talking about the birds that were coming to her feeders and our feeders. She cared deeply about our country and dutifully kept herself abreast of civic problems and the policies being considered to address them. Her last weeks were a struggle through which she remained strong. We are grateful she has been delivered from her suffering.

Jean is survived by her six children: Joan McClelland (Stephen Glick) of White Rock, N.M., Tom McClelland (Carin) of Northport, N.Y., Dan McClelland (Irene) of El Cerrito, Calif., Kevin McClelland (Mary Jo Tomlinson) of Ashland, Wis., Carol McClelland-Thomas (Greg Thomas) of Eagle, Idaho, and Mary Adams (Jeff) of Duluth; and by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren: Jesse McClelland (Carol Treska), and daughters, Charlotte and Ivy of Cleveland, Ohio, Annie McClelland of Louisville, Ky., Gina Glick of Las Vegas, Nev., Katie Rowen (Dan) of Chicago, Ill., Keighry McClelland of Astoria, N.Y., Sarah Adams of Minneapolis, Minn., Matthew Thomas (Ellie) of Boise, Idaho, Laura Joella (Dane) and daughters, Charlotte and Violet of Port Washington, N.Y., Clara Thomas of Boise, Idaho, Parker Adams (Sarah) of Madison Heights, Mich., and Joe McClelland of Northport, N.Y.