Obituary - Amelia L. McClure

Tuesday, September 4, 2001
THE JUNEAU EMPIRE

Amelia "Mel" Lillian Cesar McClure died Sept. 1, 2001, in California after a six-month battle with cancer.

She was born in Juneau on Aug. 16, 1935, to Santiago "Sam" Cesar and Mary James Cesar. McClure graduated from Juneau High School, California State University at Hayward and pursued graduate studies at CSU San Jose. She married Eldon Ray McClure in 1956.

McClure was active in promoting the education of American Indian children as the director of the Livermore Indian Education Program. She also served as secretary of the San Francisco Bay Area Coordinating Council of the Tlingit-Haida Tribes and the Livermore Society of American Indians. Recently, the SAI named its scholarship program in her honor. After their retirement, the couple volunteered as state park hosts in Ketchikan and Juneau in the summer.

Her family wrote that she was proud of her Filipino-Tlingit heritage and that she was a member of the Raven-Sockeye Clan from Haines.

She was preceded in death by her father and brother Michael Cesar.

She is survived by her husband Ray, son Michael and grandson Matthew, son Steven and grandson Ian, all of California; mother Mary Cesar, sister Marilyn Wieting and brothers Kermit, Delfin, Niles and Kenneth, all of Juneau.

After cremation, her ashes will be spread in Juneau waters and a marker will be placed at the site.

In lieu of flowers, donations are encouraged to be made to the scholarship programs of the Livermore Society of American Indians, the THCC of San Francisco and the American Cancer Society.

A celebration of life announcement will be published at a later date.

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