John Warren “Jack” McLean

We are gathered here this afternoon to bear witness to our faith in the resurrection, the resurrection of all who are buried in Jesus Christ the Lord and the resurrection of John Warren McLean.  Jack died on Monday, six weeks short of his 80^th birthday.

            Jack McLean was born in 1927 in New York City, the eldest child.  Two sisters and a step sister came later.   His father was a career Navy officer of some distinction who retired as a Rear Admiral in the US Navy.  Jack’s childhood homes included the Philippines and China among the more mundane duty stations a Navy family encounters.  He attended 22 schools along the way, so you could say he got quite an education!

            After graduating from high school, in the waning years of World War II, Jack followed his father into the Navy, serving briefly on an aircraft carrier before the war ended.  Stints at the then Norfolk branch of William and Mary and at the University of California followed, before he took his BS degree in business from RPI (now VCU) here in Richmond in 1950.

            Jack went to work for the Life of Virginia Company and made Richmond his permanent home.  Jack and Katie were introduced through a mutual friend (actually, the woman Jack was dating at the time!) and had their first date when Jack’s original date took sick – and Katie stepped in.  They married in 1957, and this August would have been their fiftieth wedding anniversary.  They had two children:  Kalbryn (Kaudie) and John.  John died in 2000.

            As Jack and Katie began their family, they moved south of the river, living first on Elm Street before making their home on Lochinvar.  Jack advanced within the company as it grew, made acquisitions and went through various reorganizations.  Eventually he was the corporate secretary or assistant secretary of eight subsidiaries.  When offered early retirement in 1992, Jack jumped at it.

            Jack was a lifelong athlete who engaged in different sports as he aged and as he had time.  As a young man he was an accomplished diver and gymnast, taking AAU titles at the statewide level in 1959.  In retirement he took up golf with a passion, playing often and as true golfers do, somewhat irrespective of the bad weather.  He particularly enjoyed the comradery of golfing with a group of guys who played weekly.

            In some ways Jack’s devotion to golf was illustrative of his optimistic spirit and love for an active life:  every golfer plays with that burning hope that the NEXT shot will be better than the last, and Jack was no exception.

            If you knew Jack you knew he was a meticulous man.  By temperament, organizing and managing catalogues of data was the kind of challenging work he found fulfilling. He is the only Clerk of Session this minister has known who maintained an index of the Church’s Sessional records.  He was a lifelong collector of matchbooks, appreciating the value of the particular and unique.  Some people see only the forest and not the trees.  Jack counted the trees.

            Jack McLean was a man of deep faith who understood faith comes about through faithfulness. His choice to include the poem Abou Ben Adhem is illustrative of his vision of faith as being judged not by pious practice, but by the practical practice of piety.

            Jack’s faith was practiced most of his life through the Presbyterian Church.  He was a member here at BAPC for 46 years.  He was a Sunday School teacher and Superintendent, Nominating committee member, insightful member of the staff relations division (he wrote the policies, of course) and member of the property division.  He served on a cooking team for the Wednesday night dinners – an activity he enjoyed because it combined hard work and working with others.  Jack was an ordained elder of this church, and former Clerk of Session. He saw that the church’s mission extended beyond the church building, and included “the least of these”. Working on Habitat for Humanity houses was an important outlet for his need to serve.

            In recent years Jack’s declining health became more and more of a challenge to his need and desire to stay active.  But rather than give up, he adapted as best he could.  He refused to give up weekly worship even though it was a physical challenge, just as he continued to be out and about, attending to his business as he always had.  Some of his drive was his temperament.  Some of it was our good Presbyterian Calvinist work ethic.  All of it was an expression of his conviction that all of life is a gift to be enjoyed and lived.

            Jack is survived by his wife and companion for over 50 years, Kathryn J. McLean; daughter Dr. Kalbryn Adelaide McLean; sisters, Dana M. Hughes and Jean Eggleston Cook. He was predeceased by his son, John Boyd McLean II.   Having gathered for our mutual support and comfort and to hear the witness of the Scriptures, let us worship God:

R. Charles Grant

Bon Air Presbyterian Church

Richmond, Virginia 

May 12, 2007