William Holmes McCleary

William Holmes McCleary Eugene - William Holmes McCleary died in Eugene, Oregon on March 19, 2023, in the company of his family. Bill was born on October 31, 1940, in Idaho Falls, Idaho to Walter Holmes and Maude Alice (Donaldson) McCleary. He was raised in Ontario, Oregon, where his parents owned the local Western Auto hardware store. The grandson of a Methodist circuit-rider preacher, he was active in the United Methodist Church from an early age. He attended Ontario High School, where he played football and baseball, and graduated in 1958 with life-long friends. At Eastern Oregon College (now EOU), he was involved in organizations related to his Elementary Education major and was president of the campus Interfaith Council. He worked summers for the U.S. Forest Service in the Wallowa Whitman National Forest on a hot shot firefighting crew, surviving a couple of close calls and graduating college in 1962.

While on campus, Bill met fellow education major Linda Louise Kane and they married in 1961. They took teaching jobs (Bill taught grades 6-8 and coached two sports) together in Blachly, Oregon (Triangle Lake) and then Springfield, Oregon. Bill completed his M.Ed. in Administration and Supervision at the University of Oregon in 1965, a proud Duck alumnus. He worked in school administration while he and Linda became parents to Krista and Kent, then the family moved (in a blinding snowstorm) to Boulder, Colorado, where Karen Jill was born and Bill worked for Boulder Public Schools. The family moved to Loveland, Colorado when Bill became a Director of Elementary Ed for the schools there. Bill completed his Ed.D. at the University of Colorado in 1975.

Summer road trips in our Dodge station wagon (with a big plywood box full of home-canned Oregon produce roped to the top) to visit family in Oregon led to a move back to the Northwest in 1977. Assistant Superintendent of Schools in Ellensburg, Washington, Sunday school teacher, adjunct professor at Central Washington University, and Dad, Bill was in all ways an educator. His administration career continued in Highline School District (Burien), Monroe, Riverview (Carnation), and North Kitsap (Poulsbo) Washington. After 38 years in public education, he retired, though he continued to teach university classes. He became a grandfather and was so proud of and nurturing to Juliana and Alan Torin. In 2000 he and Linda moved to Eugene Oregon, where Bill had season tickets for football and track and they enjoyed classical and jazz music events at the university and in the city. They were members of First United Methodist Church in Eugene, and Bill formed a close bond with his "C group" that lasted until his death. Bill and Linda celebrated their 50th anniversary by taking the family on an Alaskan cruise, and they had been married 61 years when Linda passed away in August of 2022.

Throughout his life Bill was an exemplar of living with integrity, enjoying the humor in life, and doing for others. He devoted his career to improving public education for the students in his care, and he devoted his home life to nurturing his family. By reading to us, listening to us, playing with us, attending our activities and events, teaching our Sunday school classes, leading Cub Scouts, teaching us to ride bikes and then to drive, taking us skiing on the weekends (Hidden Valley in Colorado- so cold; Ski Acres in Washington- so wet), playing catch, eating dinner together (but thankfully not often cooking it), patiently listening to everything from Abba to the Bee Gees to Huey Lewis to Van Halen (over and over...) blasting from our bedrooms, helping us understand and relish sports, teaching us skills to be handy around the house, helping each of us with many moves in our adult years, and taking care of our mother as her health declined (even as his own was also declining) he modeled being present for the people you love.

Bill is survived by his children Krista, Kent (Roc?o), and Karen Jill McCleary, grandchildren Juliana Porter and Alan McCleary, many cousins and second cousins, sister-in-law Karen Crittenden, niece Tracy Lee Belford and nephew Jay Crittenden and their families.