Ralph H. McClure, 86, of 305 Findley St., Elkins, departed this life Friday afternoon, Oct. 4, 2002, at Davis Memorial Hospital. He had been in declining health for the past four weeks.
He was born Thursday, Dec. 16, 1915, at Clover Lick, Pocahontas County, a son of the late Forrest A. McClure and Lillie Hannah McClung McClure.
On Dec. 24, 1949, at Elkins, he was married to the former Betty Jean Rigsby, who survives.
Also surviving are one son, Kevin M. McClure and wife, Missie, Elkins; two daughters, Mary Jo McClure and Theresa Alice McClure, both of Elkins; one brother, Elmer Lee McClure, Elkview; two sisters, Elizabeth Alderman, Charleston, and Pauline Lingo, Carlinville, Ill.; and two grandchildren, Joshua Thomas McClure and Jillian Marie McClure.
He was preceded in death by one sister, Catherine Cantrell.
He attended the schools of Pocahontas County. He was a member of the Civilian Conservation Corps, having worked in Pocahontas County. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army, having served during World War II and was stationed at Pearl Harbor during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was a bulldozer operator for 38 years, having last worked at the strip mine for Fairfax Trucking Co. He was a member of the West Virginia Pearl Harbor Survivors Group and the First United Methodist Church. He was an avid gardener.
Friends will be received at Lohr & Barb Funeral Home from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. today. Final rites will be conducted at the funeral home chapel Tuesday at 2 p.m. Dr. Ellis E. Conley will officiate and interment will follow at Mountain State Memorial Gardens in Gilman, where the H.W. Daniel’s Post 29, American Legion will present the American flag.
