Wilbur Fisk McLean, Jr.

LEBANON, N.H. - Wilbur F. McLean, Jr., known universally as "Bill,"once remarked,

"When I was growing up, we didn't have 'stress' ". Perhaps not, but there were certainly challenges starting with birth. As Marjorie McCandless Morrow McLean labored in the Duluth, Minn., hospital to deliver her only child, Wilbur Fisk McLean Sr. was off in the trenches helping conclude the Great War. The Spanish flu pandemic surged to its awful zenith. And little Bill elected to enter the world on October 13, 1918, just as the disastrous Cloquet-Moose Lake conflagration singed the outskirts of the city. Hospital staff robed and swaddled mother and minutes-old baby in anticipation of effecting a second delivery - this time sending them by train out of harm's way.

Despite graduating from Carleton College (1941) as a geology major, Bill immediately followed the family occupational predisposition and found himself at the Gogebic National Bank, Ironwood, Mich., for a brief stint until World War II and four years of enlistment pulled him to Europe. He would say little about the war other than insisting like so many of his humble peers that he merely did what he had to do. Bill, an officer in the Army Transportation Corps, arranged to send something more heartwarming home to his parents in the form of canine companion Carlo of Canfield. This gorgeous English setter endeared himself to Bill's company as an early alert system, diving for cover well before the others could hear approaching V-­2 rockets. The two veterans enjoyed many years together.

Post-­war, Bill collected a graduate degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Banking and returned to the Gogebic National Bank where he remained through 43 years, retiring, as he said, three times: as bank president (First of America, at that point), then as board chairman, then as board member. He influenced regional banking through innovative practices and guided civic development from seats on no less than a dozen advisory boards spanning the range from the Ironwood City Planning Commission to the Board of Education to the Gogebic Range Ski Corporation to the Church of the Transfiguration. He was a lifetime Kiwanian, rarely missing the regular lunchtime meeting. Bill was ever humble - self-effacing, actually - and liked no attention called to himself. His "Ironwood Man of the Year" plaque quietly disappeared to his basement office while his less pretentious Army cooking certificate remained on exhibit upstairs.

On Dec. 19, 1953, Bill married Merlyn Guthrie of Duluth and with her raised two children in Ironwood. As a family, they explored the Upper Peninsula woods and skied at every opportunity. In retirement, they split time between a cabin in northern Wisconsin and a retreat in Florida where they continued to golf, boat, and gather with friends.

Bill had deep appreciation for Glen Miller, a bowl of ice cream, reading, office supply stores, magicians, dogs, Kromers, and gadgets. He spent many hours sorting out the mysteries of DOS, the novelty of online ordering, or the practical aspects of attempting to have the cloud rain down a copy of the Wall Street Journal to his Kindle.

Odds are quite good that Bill McLean made you smile. Sure, sometimes he seemed slightly less optimistic than Eeyore ("I think the waiter's forgotten us."), but during even the briefest interaction he dropped one of those sagacious observations in your ear or performed a thoughtful act that demonstrated, rather than spoke of, his affection for you.

There could be no better example than the way he tended to Merlyn in her last four years as he sat at her bedside for two daily sessions of reading or browsing pictures.

Bill approached his advancing years with almost casual disregard for his actual age, which few would have guessed. He made light of his own travails, engaged in regular exercise, attended classes, and, as in the beginning, met adversity with calm and perseverance. He thrived for 96 good years until his death in Lebanon, N.H., on Jan. 21, 2015.

Wilbur F. McLean Jr. was preceded in death by Merlyn. He is survived by his son, Duncan (Karen) McLean, of Des Moines, Iowa; his daughter, Megan McLean, of Lyme, N.H .; and his grandchildren, Emma Webster and Anthony and Madeline McLean. There will be no commemorative service by his own wishes, but his family extends their thanks and the appreciation that was ever in Bill's heart to friends and most especially to those endearing neighbors and employees at Harvest Hill.