The story
A celebration of Michael will take place on Saturday, August 15th at Due West United Methodist Church, 3956 Due West Rd NW, Marietta, GA 30064
Service at 11am. Visitation at 12pm.
Memory wall
17 tributes have been left in memory of Michael McClelland.
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Mike & Karen at Jack's YMCA Volunteer of the year ceremony.
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Love you, Daddy.
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#1 Ranked Division thanks to Mike's hard work! We couldn't have done it without you!
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Mike was my first manager at UPS when I started as a peak season hire at PDX Gateway. Mike treated everyone with respect, he "walked the talk", and always had an open door. He created more than a UPS team, he created a UPS family with no exclusions. I've lost touch with Mike and Karen over the years but looking at the pictures, especially the one of Karen and Mike in the 90's, brings back so many memories of PDX Gateway and our twilight team from jokes to digging through containers and trailers for the "most important package", to late packages to throw in the belly of the plane, line flights for packages that missed the brown tail, to peak seasons with freezing weather and long long hours. Through it all Mike was always hands on, positive, and gracious. I' think of the PDX family members we've lost, those who have moved on, and those who have stayed and I smile at the memories. We had so many damn good times together at work and outside of work. I'll be with you all in spirit as you celebrate the life of a wonderful family man and friend. May you all be comforted in knowng Mike's legacy lives on in his children and grandchildren as well as memories of all who were privileged to know him. Blessings to all of you from Portland, Oregon. Love, Jessica Onosaki Kelsey
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My wife Judy and I met Mike and Karen around 10 years ago at a neighborhood gathering but we really didn’t get to know them until in the last 5 years. Since then we have rented a Condo in the Smokies a couple times, we bowled together on a Thursday night league, attended car shows, cooked dinners together and we basically all lost to Mike at Dominos. He always corrected us on the rules of that game. We didn’t go out to eat much. Instead, Mike would call and say, “Hey, I shot a Rhinoceros in the backyard, I’ll grill it and you guys bring something to go with it.” The hard part was figuring what kind of wine goes with Rhino? After dinner it would be Dominos or sometimes an old horror movie hosted by “Svengoolie”. Many times Mike and I would sit out in my garage and talk cars with a few cold ones. It doesn’t get better than that. Words are never easy to come by when describing someone as multifaceted as Mike. Business, sports and of course Corvettes and collector cars were frequent topics of our conversations. We regularly joked about a yellow 1969 Corvette which was parked in a garage near our neighborhood. The owner rarely drove it and always had miscellaneous junk piled on the roof and trunk lid. Whenever the garage door was up, it seemed there was more stuff piled on than the last time. So we decided that maybe we should do an intervention or announce that we were from the “Corvette” police and write him a ticket for mistreating a “Vette”. Mike even suggested we stop by and offer to trade a shelving unit for the car. He was always a quick wit and his jokes were way better than mine. Mike once told me about working long hours between two jobs, one at UPS and the other in construction framing houses. So he was a carpenter and it seemed fitting. He was always generous to offer help, a considered opinion or give time to his church and HOA. He used his management skills and energy to make those organizations better. In short he was a fine Christian man. John & Judy Kokoska
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It was very easy to see the love that Mike poured into his family, and how it shone through them out into the world. My thoughts and best wishes are with you Karen and with your family and friends as you come together to celebrate Mike's life. Love, Jacob
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Mikie! Mikie! where do I start? I met Mike sometime around 1980 when he was a part time supervisor at UPS in Portland on the night sort outbound load line. I was a feeder driver at that time and pulled trailers off the night sort. Mike was a fun guy, but took his job very serious. I didn't see Mike much until I was promoted into the air department at Portland (PDX) in 1988 and at that time he became my boss (maybe the best boss in my work history). Besides work relationships we found time to develop a great and lasting personal friendship that lasted to the end of his life. We both loved to water ski which we did as often as we could. We got together as families on several occasions which usually meant going to his cabin on the lake, which was, well more water skiing. Mike was an excellent water skier and always gave it his all (similar to the way he did everything including his career). He loved to cut hard and had some spectacular crashes (I didn't say he was perfect) just tried hard. After Mike and Karen transferred to Atlanta we stayed in touch by phone or text regularly. Mike and Karen had an exceptional marriage and relationship. Mike wanted to do something special for Karen on each decade of marriage. On their 20th Mike and Karen came back to Portland to renew their vows. Mike asked me to be his best man, what an honor that was. Mike was a devout Corvette man and me a serious Mustang guy, you might imagine the interesting conversations that created. He was funny and a quick wit, but I fought hard to hold my own. It was all in good fun. Mike and I had planned to take in a big car show in Pigeon Forge together in September, but that was not to be. His situation progressed way to fast and it became obvious he might not make the car show, so the decision was made to go see him in August. I feel very fortunate to have been able to have some quality time with him the morning of his last day. Yes there was conversation about Corvettes, water skiing and much more. He said "you and John might have to push me around the car show in a wheel chair". He knew the end was not far off, but Mike McClelland the optimist he was said, never give up. Mike was an exceptional person at work and play and so happy I could call him a friend. Mikie, Donna and I will miss you very much. Mike was a Christian and therefor we will see him in Heaven. Good bye my friend.
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Jack enjoying a ride in Mike's Corvette.
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Mike was more than a boss, colleague, and mentor. He was a friend. Mike was my first manager when I got promoted at UPS. He expected you to work hard, do your job well, and do everything possible to make service on the packages. He had brown blood but made it clear it was about the people. He would always say, “It’s not life or death, they are only packages.” Mike and I spent time together outside of work as well. I learned to ski on one ski behind his boat and we played a lot of golf together. Were you aware that if you put chap stick on the club face it will straighten out the curve put on the ball? Mike did, and it really helped him when we played although it is not legal. We also worked with another guy that was a practical joker. We once had to call in an injury because he was attacked by cat he was trying to get off the ramp! The other thing this guy liked to do was go into Mike’s office and leave him a “fragrant present”, just before Mike came in! Mike would gag and then laugh. Mike always kept work as fun as possible. Mike will be missed and always remembered. I learned a lot from Mike as my boss, colleague, and mentor but most of all my friend. Leigh Pingle
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Mike’s is a life cut short, way before it should have been. I worked with Mike at UPS in Portland Oregon in the 90’s. I experienced Mike as a good leader, boss, friend, advocate and all around good guy. I appreciated that Mike put his family first and always talked positively about Karen and the kids. I can remember a specific situation when Mike (as my boss) and I were in a meeting with his boss. The meeting took an ugly turn and Mike showed me how a real professional handles tough, out of control situations. The way he handled it followed me through my management career. When Mike and Karen moved to Georgia, it was a loss for our local UPS. We kept in touch annually over the years and I always looked forward to hearing from him. Mike was one of the first to congratulate me on my retirement earlier this year. A class act many will miss. God bless you Karen and all the family as you remember Mike fondly. Sincerely, Phil Haggerty 3400 NE 169th Ave Vancouver WA 98682
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Some of the Mighty Fortress bowling team 2012
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I worked with Mike as a part/time supervisor in the early 80's. Our bosses were Rick Morgan and Dean Isfeld. Mike always seemed to love his work. He had a fantastic attitude which was not only contagious but made what was a stressful environment seem fun. I think he was framing houses at the time during the day and we worked the twilight sort in the evening. We frequently went out for beers after the sort (Shenanigans), which I enjoyed his sense of humor even more. Mike loved to tease people, and you knew he liked you if you were on that list. If I can remember rightly I got the feeling he was very close with his Dad as he spoke very often of him. He would often quote his father. I think Mike was raised Catholic as I remember some conversation about that fact. My wife Jan and I had a big Halloween party at our place and Mike showed up with his date dressed as a hillbilly (black eye, missing tooth,short jeans and barefoot). His date (possibly married her) had braids and a short skirt and my impression was that they looked handsome, happy, and made a great couple. Rick Morgan, Stu Murdock, and Mark Hinze also attended that party. As the years passed I went driving and he went into management and we lost touch socially but when we would see each other there was a fondness and respect for our past. When Lee told me the bad news I was deeply saddened and taken back. Such a big personality with the heart to match. May his family and friends find comfort from the spirit of our Lord during the coming days knowing that Mike made the years count. He was loved by all his friends here in Portland. Jesus bless you and keep you. Dave Walker.
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thanks for caring Mike!!!
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