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Richard V. 'Dick' Mc Clelland Columbia, MO St Louis, MO Roslyn, PA QCWA # 4756 Chapter 5 |
I want to report the passing of long time QCWA member Richard (Dick) McClelland, W3OOJ on Tuesday April 28, 2020 at the age of 97. Dick was a good friend and Chapter 5 member for many years. He was first licensed in 1940 in St Louis, MO. He served in the Navy in WWII and met his future wife, Kate in Philadelphia. They married and resided in the northern suburbs of Philadelphia all of their lives. Dick joined the Abington township, PA police force and retired as a lieutenant. He also did television and radio repair from the 1950's to the 70's. He was active on HF often checking into the QCWA Sunday net and several CW nets. A memorial service will be announced in the future.
Attached is a photo when Dick received his 75 years award. It shows him holding a photo of himself in the Navy and I am next to him, I believe this would have been his 80th year as a ham. He probably missed that by months.
Please pass this onto whomever might have known Dick. I know a QCWA Doug in CA that should know but I do not have his email.
73 Doug, WA3DSP
http://wa3dsp.org
From the September 2015 Journal
Dick McClelland, W3OOJ, receives his 75 year QCWA certificate from Doug Crompton, WA3DSP, who is celebrating his 50th amateur radio anniversary this year. Dick is holding a photo of himself taken while serving in the Navy during WWII.
Dick was first licensed as W9JSH in his hometown of St Louis, Missouri on March 15, 1940. His first rig was a homebrew superhet and a 6L6/807 transmitter operating on 40 meter CW.
When the war broke out Dick joined the Navy in February 1941 and he served until January 1947 as a radio operator where his CW skills were used copying code and typing it on a mill. During the war most of his time was spent on the USS Philadelphia. He was aboard an escort ship that accompanied Harry Truman to the Potsdam Conference in July 1954. After the war, he was on a voyage of the USS Lyon returning German prisoners from the US to Europe and bringing back GI's on the return trip. In 1946, he sailed to Thule, Greenland aboard the USS Alcona (AK157) delivering cargo to build a new air base. While in Greenland, he operated as W9JSH/OX and contacted many stateside stations.
After leaving the Navy Dick married his Philadelphia war bride Kate and moved to Philadelphia. There he was assigned the call W3OOJ. He moved to his present residence in Roslyn, PA in the late 1940's and in March 1953 he joined the Abington Township Police Department. He retired as a lieutenant in July 1982.
He and Kate raised five children in their Roslyn home. Kate passed in late 2014 and his daughter Nancy now lives with him.
Dick operates a Kenwood TS-570 with a homebrew amplifier using a pair of 813's. He can be found on the QCWA Wednesday evening net at 8 PM Eastern on 7035 kHz or the Chapter 5 net, which meets on Sundays at 9:45 AM on 3917 kHz. His QCWA number is 4753.
Submitted by Doug Crompton, WA3DSP
Police Department, Abington Township, PA - Lt McCelland(left) is Dick, W3OOJ