Wife Lila’s Class of ’66 buddy Dick McClard and I are political oil and water. We enjoy sparring with each other, but we can do it without rancor and with good humor. What I’m beginning to realize is that he’s a man of many talents.
We started talking last year about what he thought was a lead on where the mass grave from the steamboat The Stonewall might be located. Weather and pressing business kept us from getting out there until this trip.
When I stopped by his house for the ramble, he invited me into his stained glass studio where his wife, Judy, and daughter, Jennifer, were doing restoration work on stained glass windows for the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Annunciation. Dick was responsible for getting me into the church before it opened after a major renovation project.
Here, he’s showing how Belinda Schearf has been creating color window panes by building up and firing multiple layers of different colors. This is a technique used in the huge eyebrow window in the other photos.
More than just a glass guy
Dick is quite the historian, too. He and some other folks have collaborated in tracking 40,000 McClard/McLard/McLaird/MacLaird and Related Families from 1767 through 2003 (and growing). Volume One, an interesting history even if you aren’t a McClard, is 499 pages long; Volume II, an index and family tree listing, is 1,049 pages long. It’s available in pdf format because printing it would be too costly, he said.
We spent the day roaming Cape and Perry counties, poking around in old cemeteries, meeting oldtimers he knew and avoiding political discussions. Oh, and we’re not sure if we located the mass grave we started out looking for. We’re going to have to check back on that.
Glass studio photo gallery
If you walk into St. Mary’s some day and see these window pieces, think of Dick and his family. Click on any photo to make it larger, then use your arrow keys to navigate through he gallery.
Isn’t it odd that –
40,000 McClard/McLard/McLaird/MacLaird and Related Families from 1767 through 2003 (and growing). Volume One, an interesting history even if you aren’t a McClard, is 499 pages long; Volume II, an index and family tree listing, is 1,049 pages long and growing –
yet none of us in the class of 66 –
ever had a class with this guy ……
or served on student counsel with him …
or attended the French club …
or the chess club …
Or on the cross country squad…
Or on the yearbook staff …
Or served after school detention with him…
Or even had a home room with him????
Hey guys!!! Ever see Mr 40,000 McCard at a basketball game????
Or NOT EVEN in a FREEEEKIIINNNNN PEP ASSEMBLY??????
Give me a break!!!! Even the famous Magnum PU Hopkins couldn’t have found this guy in a phone booth on Broadway in 1962-1966!!!!!
Who is this DICKY MCCLARD and why is he suddenly so cozzy with Dr Steihhoff ??????
……. who won’t normally give the time of day to us mere mortals who don’t have letters behind our names….
…. or fancy-smancy degrees before our mames????
YOU GOT SOME SPLAININ TO DO…… LUCY!!!!
Nice work Mr. McClard! Your actions speak louder than words.
Hmmm I knew Dickie, His real name pretty well in school, We were in Civil Air Patrol and had gym class a couple of times. as for Brune…there were not many phone booths in Cape in 1962 – 1966 there was a pay phone in front of the Pladium.. on Broadway.
@Brad Brune
Not being a High School Hot Dog doesn’t mean you won’t do great things in your life! It’s called growing up and using your God-given talents to better the world around you and that is one thing that Dickie is highly skilled at. It seems to me that a lot of people judge others without even really knowing them and how they live their every day lives. I have been witness many times to the thoughtfulness that is Dickie. I’ve watched him pick up a homeless man in the dead of winter, feed him a good warm meal and then follow through by taking him to a shelter where he could get a bath and a warm bed. Dickie has this innate ability to recognize those in need who just need somebody to care and he always knows what to do to help them without taking away their dignity. I appreciate Dickie in my own life and I thank him because he is the reason that my life is good. I’ve learned many things from Dickie and those things have improved my life in more ways than I can count.
So in closing Mr. Brune in your comments I see someone who is a judgmental, rude, and obviously jealous High School Hot Dog that hasn’t grown up!
Yeah. Take that Mr Brune, you brute. (Belinda doesn’t know all of the back story that lead to this. Funny stuff). Will you be at the next lunch so we can get something else started?
It’s okay Belinda, these boys play rough, come to think of it, the same way they did in high school. You’re right, about needing to grow up, but putting it off as long as possible keeps you young and judgmental, and rude, and jealous. LOL
I was referred to you by the gentleman who wrote the article on McLain’s Chapel in your area. He tells me YOU are the expert on the McLane- McLain family.
Alexander McLain Jr was my 5X grandfather via James P.McLane. Although I have found numerous articles on the exploits of James P – I have found very little on his personal life. I did find the will for Alex Sr in NC but nothing for Alex Jr.
Would love to talk “family” with you!
Joanne
Joanne, 573-382-2101 will get you everything I have on those folks. All photos and data are digitized and easily shared.