Jay Louis McClellan's Obituary
Jay Louis McClellan, 76, of Sandy, Utah quietly returned home Friday morning after two months of struggling with complications from a stroke and heart surgery.
He was born to the late Elvon Louis and Ruth Anderson McClellan, Aug. 9, 1941, in Payson Utah. Jay served an LDS mission in the West Central States Mission and served in the National Guard during the Vietnam War. He graduated from Brigham Young University with an MFA in interior design. He married Diana (Dee) Elizabeth Borg in the Los Angeles Temple on January 28, 1966.
He worked for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the bulk of his career beginning in the exhibits department, working on displays for temple visitor’s centers. Later, he moved to the LDS Church Office Building in charge of designing upgrades to offices.
Jay was an artistic soul with a love of painting, sculpture, photography, singing, and playing the guitar. He designed furniture for his master’s degree program and published an article for Interior Design Magazine. However, after college, he focused on artistic pursuits only on behalf of others such as designing logos for family events, screen printing neckerchiefs for the Boy Scouts, designing and building scenery for church and community plays, or performing in musicals when his son needed a mature tenor for a community theatre musical.
Jay loved entertainment of all types, especially science fiction (Star Trek), BYU football and tracking the careers of actors from film to film. He loved collecting entertainment memorabilia, model vehicles, toys and gadgets.
He was also an amateur handyman and mechanic, always using his skills to bless the lives of others. If someone in his presence complained about something being broken, dirty or in disrepair, it wouldn’t be long before they found Jay tinkering with it. He also lived by the phrase, if you can’t fix it, make it worth the repairman’s time.
Even before the advent of digital photography he chronicled family history with photography, super 8 movies and VHS recordings.
Jay was apparently shy as a young man. However, in his adult life he developed the skill of striking up a conversation with anyone. Wherever he went, even up to the hospital and care centers where he spent his final days, he was always known as a gentle, kind man; always learning and committing to memory even the mundane details of people’s lives as if he found them all fascinating.
For eleven years, he served as a worker in the Draper Temple.
He was absolutely devoted to his wife and served as her caretaker up until the moment he had his stroke. He was devoted to his children and never missed an event in their lives. To him, his kids were cute at every phase, even the awkward ones.
He is survived by his wife Dee, sons Kevin and Coray, daughter Kimberly Stringham and thirteen grandchildren.
Viewings will be held 6-8pm Friday, May 18 and 10am Saturday May 19. Funeral services will be held May 19, 11am all at Cameo Park Ward, 8945 South 1700 East. Internment at Larkin Sunset Gardens.
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