Glenn Wiley McMaster

Lodi, CA

Glenn Wiley (Mac) McMaster

August 22, 1922 - May 1, 2009

Glenn Wiley (Mac) McMaster born in Glendale, California in 1922 of Floyd and Gertrude McMaster died Friday, May 1st 2009 of complications from cancer; he was 86 years of age.

After serving his country in the U.S. Navy in the Philippines during WWII and obtaining the rank of Lieutenant Commander, he returned home to marry his surviving wife, Lucy who he met in Florida while on leave as a cadet in the Navy midshipman school. Later he and his wife moved to Davis while he attended the University of California at Davis as an Agricultural Education major graduating in 1949.

After a brief time as an intern teacher in Modesto he and his wife settled in Lodi, California to become part of the community teaching Farm Mechanics in the Agricultural Department of the Lodi High School before retiring from education with a Masters Degree in 1979. Teaching it seems, is a family tradition started by his father Floyd who was a principal and teacher of a public school in Glendale and is carried on by Glenn's surviving daughter Linda, a teacher with the Lodi Unified School District.

Along with his regular teaching responsibilities Glenn also drove the school bus, taught night classes in small engine repair and welding, contracting with General Mills to teach welding to some of their employees. He also sponsored theYoung Farmer Chapter of the Young Farmers Association of Northern California and served as an advisor to that and the Future Farmers of America for many years. It was here in Lodi that he surrendered his formal name Glenn to the more affectionate name of Mac. Mac (Glenn) loved to work with his hands, turning raw wood materials into finished furniture pieces or welding many a helplessly broken item and restoring it back to functional order. Many of the items of furniture in his home he made himself. His pride is a roll top desk he made of oak salvaged from the wire spools that carried the stabilization guy cables used to erect one of the large television antennas near Walnut Grove.

He took a hopelessly wrecked VW bug and cut the standard 14" out of the center of it and made a car for his son Mike, for college, a street legal, Evans-Runt dune buggy. He started his own small engine repair business after retiring from the school district. Later, Glenn's good friend Jim Beardsley (an also retired, Farm Mechanics teacher from San Joaquin Delta College) enlisted him to serve in the San Joaquin Historical Society efforts to restore tractors at the County museum at Micke Grove. He worked there for many years donating much of his time, tools and effort to preserving important aspects of the agricultural history of this area.

Mac loved fishing, hunting and backpacking and spent many a vacation imparting a love and respect of the outdoors to his family. His surviving son, Mike has been working in environmental sciences and engineering throughout his career. Mac's career inspiration came from his mentor, Professor Harold Lewis, a close family friend then teaching at the University of California at Davis, who led him away from agricultural machine engineering into the teaching profession, to the benefit of many in this area. His granddaughter, Sarah McMaster is considering a career in teaching agriculture also.

Mac was also a good friend, spending a lot of time looking after and taking care of his friends when they were in need. Such was the case with his close friend, Dr. John Stucky, who in a time in his life prior to his death in 1999 when he needed such a friend, Mac was there to help. However, that was his general way of doing things, not looking for reward or payment but to just be there to help his friends and family when he could and when they needed it-especially with someone's home or farm project that either got stuck in neutral or was in danger of going seriously wrong. Many of us who knew and loved him, believe that it was his greatest frustration in his later life was that his age and arthritis kept him from carrying on more in that capacity. One of Mac's close and departed friends, Bob and Susie Motts (neighbors during their shared College days at Davis) put it best commenting, when he was on their dairy farm repairing one of their tractors while visiting some time ago, "Mac does not work for money, he works for love - the Massey Ferguson willbe just fine."

Mac (Glenn) is survived by his wife Lucy; his son Mike; his daughter Linda Camper and her husband Bruce Camper; his granddaughter Sarah McMaster, and his grandson, Nick McMaster.

A graveside service will be held at Lodi Memorial Cemetery, 5750 E. Pine St., Lodi, on Friday, May 8, at 3:00 p.m. Contributions (instead of flowers) can be made to the Arthritis foundation, and the cancer foundation. Special thanks to Vienna Nursing home, Wine Country Convalescence Care and Hospice of San Joaquin County. A virtual register book may be signed at www.lodifuneralhome.com where memories can be shared. Lodi Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements.