Clarence Milton McClymonds, 89, of Charlottesville, died July 26,2015, at the Colonnades Assisted Living Facility as he recovered from surgery.
He was born near Ironwood, Michigan on October 16, 1925, son of the late Rev. Ira H. McClymonds and Edyth Taylor McClymonds.
Surviving members of his immediate family are Marita Petzoldt McClymonds, UVa. Professor Emerita, his wife of 58 years; son James Taylor McClymonds, his wife Sue and twin children Malcolm and Emilie of Amsterdam, NY; daughter Julie Rose McClymonds-Smith, her husband Nicholas Page Smith, their son Gabriel and daughter Ariel of Charlottesville. Sisters Lois McClymonds Hudson of Sparks, Nevada, and Sarah McClymonds Johnson of Salem, Indiana and their families also survive.
Besides his parents, he was preceded in death by a sister Margery McClymonds Neibling and brother Ira H. McClymonds, Jr.
His education was interrupted during World War II when he served as a radio operator in the 1255th Engineer (Combat) Battalion in the last three battles in Europe; the Battle of Ardennnes (so-called Bulge), the Battle of the Rhineland, and the Battle of Central Europe. After completing his studies in mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois, he spent his entire career in a variety of engineering assignments in mining, underground construction, oilfield equipment, and minerals processing facility design and construction. Besides the US, his work took him to projects in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Peru. His last years of employment were as a planner-estimator for the US General Services Administration in Virginia. Photography was a passion from early on. He maintained a photographic record of activities and gatherings of family and friends, sightseeing, and travels throughout his life. His photos from WWII "GI with a camera" were exhibited by the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society. Digital copies with his notes are on their website. From 2003 to 2012, he was co-editor of the Bangalor, a newsletter for his 1255 th Battalion. Post retirement, he served on boards of The League of Women Voters, the Memorial Planning Society, the Martha Jefferson Neighborhood Assoc. and Preservation Piedmont. He was also active in the Center for Peace and Justice, Veterans for Peace, Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, Amnesty International, Fellowship of Reconciliation, World Federalists and the American Civil Liberties Union.
His personal philosophy, which evolved over the years, developed into anti-war and anti-death penalty advocacy. He was an unaffiliated Baha'i. He had an international outlook, and his friends and colleagues came from every corner of the world. He developed close European friends during his post-war duty. Later he accompanied his wife to academic meetings abroad, affording them both welcome opportunities to maintain contact with European friends from the immediate post-WWII period and colleagues from subsequent International engineering assignments. Some of their children and grandchildren spent time with the family in Berkeley and Charlottesville.
Clarence had a great love of family, friends, food, travel, music, history, architecture, art and political commentary. When traveling, museums under any of those categories would be on the itinerary as well as the historic part of town. He was devoted to his family and friends and was always there to take care of them. He was very supportive of his wife in pursuing her interest in musicology and in seeking a faculty position at the University of Virginia, leaving his job to accompany her to Charlottesville in the early '80s. He loved food of all nationalities, especially sweets, and enjoyed a variety of food at home and in his travels. He liked to comment on the various architectural styles in his walks and drives around Virginia as well as during his travels. He loved music, a variety of styles from jazz, Latin, classical, and opera and enjoyed attending concerts, plays, opera, and fund raising parties with his wife. Finally, Clarence was known for his dry wit, which could take one by surprise at times.
A simple graveside service will be conducted at Riverview Cemetery at 11:00 a.m. on July 29, 2015.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to the Charlottesville Center for Peace and Justice, PO Box 2012, Charlottesville, VA 22902; The Fellowship of Reconciliation, PO Box 271, Nyack, NY 10960-0271; or to the American Friends Service Committee, 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102-1403. Funeral arrangements by Anderson Funeral Services.
The family would like to thank everyone who supported Clarence in his last days particularly special family friends, William "Bill" Anderson; Jim and Elke Ruffner; Renate and Bill Hinckley; Bob and Celia Belton, and Inga Hull. They would also like to thank the staff of Martha Jefferson Hospital and the Colonnades for their loving care of Clarence.