James McLanahan

1916 - 2011

James David McLanahan
1916-2011
James David McLanahan passed away on May 4, 2011 at the age of 94.
Jim was born November 17, 1916 into a family that farmed near Sacramento since 1842. He attended Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo studying the dairy industry and crops. During the summer of 1940, Jim taught a Civilian Pilot Training Course at Cal Poly where he met his wife, Patricia Preisker of Santa Maria. They married in 1943.
In 1940, Jim enlisted in the Army Air Corps. In 1941 Jim was assigned as a fighter pilot to the Pacific Theater. He flew mainly P-38s and shot down five enemy planes. After returning to the States, he served as a flight and gunnery instructor, and was discharged a Major in 1945.
Jim was a dairyman in Santa Maria and in 1966 moved his operation to Cuyama Valley. During these years, Jim and Pat had five children: Sharon, Ann, Suzanne, Charles and Julia. He also established a residence and business, Canyonlands Llamas, in Castle Valley, Utah. He returned to Santa Maria in 1992 to retire and travel.
During his life, Jim McLanahan was an active member in the Elks Lodge in Guadalupe and Santa Maria, in Rotary in Guadalupe and Santa Maria, Taft and Moab, UT. He was also involved in the American Dairy Association, California Dairy Association, Cuyama Exchange Club, Vaqueros de los Ranchos and Santa Maria Food and Wine Society. He was very active in the establishment of the Santa Maria Museum of Flight.
Jim participated on several Santa Barbara County boards: Soil Conservation, Water District, Road District, and was instrumental in such projects as the widening of Hwy. 166 to Cuyama and levies on the Santa Maria and Cuyama Rivers.
An avid airman, he maintained relationships with members of his USAAC Squadron, and regularly attended reunions of the 347th Fighter Group. Jim has been recorded for The Nimitz Oral History Program at The National Museum of the Pacific War. Through the years he owned a few airplanes and flew into his 70s.
After his wife Patricia's death in 2005, he remarried a family friend and neighbor Lorena Endicott, with whom he traveled and spent happy years until his death. James McLanahan is survived by wife Lorena, half-sister Florence, daughters Ann and Julia, grandchildren Miranda, James & Christopher, nieces Nancy, Patricia, Barbara and nephew, Robert.
Graveside Services will be held Friday, June 24, 2011 at 10:30 in the Santa Maria Cemetery.
Arrangements are in the care of Magner-Maloney Funeral Home and Crematory. Sympathy notes and words of support may be expressed at www.magnermaloney.com.