Uvonne Ruth McClelland

April 13, 1921 - November 29, 2007

Uvonne Ruth Jensen McClelland Uvonne Jensen was born April 13, 1921 in Council Bluffs, Iowa to Adolph V. and Lulu P. Jensen and departed this life on November 29, 2007 after a stroke. She graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in Council Bluffs where she played clarinet in the marching band. She worked on a small dairy farm during high school and college. She attended Boyles Business College while also running her own collection agency and playing in a small band. She attended Peru State Teachers College and completed her formal education at the University of South Dakota where she received her bachelor’s degree with a double major in Business Administration and Zoology. After graduation she was employed as a credit manager for Montgomery Ward in Council Bluffs. When WWII began, she joined the war effort and made walkie-talkies for the U.S. Army. On June 27, 1943 she married SSGT Richard McClelland of the U.S. Army Air Corps at Omaha, Nebraska. Together they served over 38 years in the military, ending up at the Oklahoma Air National Guard in Tulsa. As they transferred from base to base, Uvonne worked on baling and combine crews, as a tractor driver, farm hand and as a volunteer in a military mental hospital. Uvonne loved to travel and lived in or visited all fifty states, all the provinces of Canada, Puerto Rico, South America, Spain and eight other European countries. She retired from American Airlines, where she was employed as an internal auditor. In 1984 she and Richard moved to their retirement home on a peninsula of Lake Fort Gibson near Hulbert,Oklahoma. Eventually they moved to Go Ye Village Retirement Community in Tahlequah. Uvonne was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Tahlequah. She was a past Matron, Past Grand Marshal and Perpetual Member of the Order of the Eastern Star. She was also a Past Royal Matron, Past Grand Lecturer and Life Member of the Order of the Amaranth, and a Life Member of the White Shrine of Jerusalem. Uvonne was an avid conservationist, environmentalist and naturalist. She belonged to the Local and National Audubon Societies, State and National Wildlife Association, Tulsa and Cherokee County SPCA, Nature Conservancy, Greenpeace, the Sierra Club and the National Blue Bird Society. She was an eccentric individual who laughed a lot, loved a lot, lived life to the fullest and marched through life to the beat of her very own drummer. Uvonne was preceded in death by her parents and her husband, Richard. She is survived by her “claimed” daughter, Christine Smith and Christine’s father, Eric M. Olson, a friend of over 55 years, both of Tulsa, Oklahoma, as well as her very special friend and companion, Norman J. Sauke of Park Hill, Oklahoma. At her request, there will not be a memorial service. Visitation will be at Floral Haven in Broken Arrow on Friday, December 7 beginning at noon. Graveside rites at Floral Haven on Saturday, December 8 at 11:00 a.m. followed by lunch and a celebration of her life at the Family Center. Friends and family are welcomed to attend any or all of these events. Donations in her memory are requested to any organization that helps “pup dogs”.Survived By: She is survived by her “claimed” daughter, Christine Smith and Christine’s father, Eric M. Olson, a friend of over 55 years, both of Tulsa, Oklahoma, as well as her very special friend and companion, Norman J. Sauke of Park Hill, Oklahoma.