“Beautiful to me”
Ellie McClure July 20, 1940-October 2, 2024
On Wednesday 2 October Larry McClure sent this message to a few close friends:
“Ellie passed at 1:56 with all of us around her. She looked beautiful to me after 57 years together.”
A service of remembrance will be held at the Tualatin Methodist Church at 3 p.m. Sunday, November 10 with a reception following.
Eleanor Ruth Carlson was born July 20, 1940 in Portland, Oregon. The first child of Lennart and Martha Carlson, she grew up in the Grant High School area and later graduated from Willamette University in Salem and then Portland State University where she earned her teaching credentials in math and later a master’s degree in counseling from Oregon State University. Ellie particularly enjoyed skiing, hiking and camping both as a child and as an adult.
While teaching in Salem, she met Larry McClure at a Methodist church they both attended. They married six months later in December 1967 and in 1969 moved to Eugene where she was a junior high counselor while Larry was in graduate school. Their first child Doug was born there in May, 1971, then moved to Portland until they bought their home in Tualatin in 1972 where they lived the next 52 years. In November 1973 she became the surprised mother of twins, Jenny and Andy.
Family activities were important, particularly cross-country van trips to visit grandparents and church camps around Oregon. Ellie was actively involved in the lives of her children in church, a cooperative preschool, Scouting, youth sports programs and, as the children began to leave home, she became a substitute teacher in Tigard-Tualatin secondary schools. She was a faithful alto in the church choir and seldom had idle hands, knitting hundreds of scarves, sweaters, hats, and sox for family and charity. If not solving word puzzles on paper, in more recent years she was competing online with other word gamers or putting together e-puzzles. Reading mysteries and helping detectives solve crimes on TV were a favorite pastime. As a homemaker, she enjoyed cooking and also canned, pickled and preserved garden produce of all kinds.
In retirement, she enjoyed travels around the world but always looked forward to extended stays in Mexico each winter. With Larry, she spent many hours working behind the scenes to help preserve the history of Tualatin and support its heritage center, interpret the story of Lewis and Clark’s journey in Oregon, and promote family values and gardening through the local Grange and OSU Extension. As grandchildren grew up, she followed their games and performances on her iPad using a special app. And when the Seattle Mariners, Seahawks, Portland Trailblazers, Timbers, Thorns or Oregon Ducks were televised, her knitting production really went up!
She leaves behind Doug and Denise in Marietta, Georgia. Their children are Jordan and his wife Lauren in Greenville, South Carolina; Jacob, studying physical therapy at the University of Tennessee/Chattanooga; and Allison, a freshman at Mississippi State University in Starkville.
Daughter Jennifer and Paul live in Puyallup, Washington. Their children are Michael employed in Butler, Pennsylvania, and Annika who owns her own farrier business based in Puyallup.
Son Andy and Kelly live across town in Puyallup (the twin bond still strong!). Their children are Jillian, completing her degree in occupational therapy at Eastern Washington University/Spokane, and Gavin, a sophomore at Eastern Washington University in Cheney.
Ellie’s brother David Carlson lives in Rocklin, California.
Gifts in Ellie’s memory can be made to Tualatin United Methodist Church, 20200 SW Martinazzi, Tualatin OR 97062 designated for church camps, disaster relief or the music program.
She died peacefully at home from metastatic breast cancer.after two earlier bouts. A service of remembrance will be held at the church at 3 p.m. Sunday, November 10 with a reception following.
The McClure family can be reached at 17760 SW Cheyenne Way, Tualatin, OR 97062, larry.mcclure@gmail.com
The life of a laundress
For several years, Ellie enjoyed showing students how laundry was done before electricity arrived in Tualatin.
