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Robert McClellan Obituary

ROBERT EDWARD McCLELLAN

Beloved husband and father, Robert was born in Atlanta, Georgia on February 27, 1922 and passed away peacefully at home, in Los Angeles, surrounded by his family and the books he loved on January 13, 2013.

He graduated from Mt. Carmel High School and attended UCLA until he joined the Navy in1942. The Navy put him in its "V-12" program to study engineering for a Civil Engineer Corps Commission and assigned him to USC. He secretly married his high school sweetheart, Mary Margaret Billetter in 1944, just before being shipped to Guam. He received his Masters of Science in Engineering and his PHD in Structural Engineering, both from USC. Bob was most proud of the mark he left on the world by his work on the Apollo program designing rocket engines and the testing pad for those engines. He was saddened by the fact that his greatest work achievements were top secret projects for the government and that he would just have to be satisfied knowing that he was a "mad Scientist". Bob was an avid "Sherlockian" and spent much of his retirement years authoring additional Sherlock Holmes novels in the style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He published his favorite, Sherlock Holmes and the Skull of Death, and proudly discussed his work at the Los Angeles Book Fair in 2012.

Bob was predeceased by his wife Mary, of 66 years, and was happy to be joining her again in the eternal home prepared by their Savior. He is survived by his seven children: Kathleen, Elizabeth, Patricia, Eileen, Robert, Mary and Thomas; 14 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren.

Services will be held at Holy Cross Mortuary, 5835 W. Slauson Ave., Culver City, Saturday, January 26th, 11:00 a.m.

Published by Los Angeles Daily News on Jan. 23, 2013.
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