Walter McClune

Walter Howard McClune was born in Denver, CO on October 24, 1929 and was very proud of being a native. He attended Wyman Grade School, Morey Junior High and Manuel High School. He and a friend decided to join the Coast Guard and had to go to San Francisco, CA to join as there wasn’t a Coast Guard recruiting office in Denver. He was accepted July 23rd, 1948 but his friend was not. After 3 years of service, he was honorably discharged July 23, 1951, and returned to Denver. He went to work at a filling station at 18th and Downing. Then he was employed at Presbyterian Hospital. Later he worked 19 and a half years at Children’s Hospital and worked himself up to Building Manager. After that, he went to work for the state health department as a building manger there. He worked for 20 years until he retired in 1990.

Walt and Wanda met when he joined a mixed bowling league at Colfax Bowling Alley. His dad always told him to stay out of saloons, pool halls, and bowling alleys. On the first bowling night he took his stationary engineers license test to operate boilers and came in late. He passed the test and that started his career in building management. Walt wanted to ask Wanda out that next week but she went on vacation to Kansas. But they went out after that and his dad decided she was OK. They got along famously. When they married, May 11th, 1957, his mother said she finally got the daughter she never had. You couldn’t ask for better in-laws. Wanda retired in 1992 after 41 years working for the Air Force Accounting and Finance Center at Lowry. They traveled and worked on their home.

He was a hobbyist building small tethered planes. He joined a club of fellows who had tethered race cars. He won the fastest car record. He built them and 2 radio controlled boats. He also built an engine from scratch. They ran them at Lolly Pop Lake. He built 4 live steam engines, machining parts, that you can ride and had a track around the house. They were 1 inch and 1 ½ inch scale. He told the neighbors they lived on the wrong side of the tracks.

He had a wonderful sense of humor and was always telling jokes everywhere he went. He had a marvelous memory quoting jokes. He would meet people and month’s even years later quote their name and all the details about that person. He liked a challenge. As a child he would find things, an old clock that didn’t work and bring it home and fix it.

He loved animals and brought them home if they were sick or injured and nursed them back to health. He was a wonderful caring husband and friend. He will be greatly missed.

In lieu of flowers, Memorial Contributions may be made in Walter's name to:

Augustana Lutheran Church

5000 East Alameda Avenue

Denver, Colorado 80246

http://www.augustanadenver.org/pages/giving/giving.html