Nada Klopping McClean

ONE PERSON WITH A BELIEF IS EQUAL TO A FORCE OF 99 WHO ONLY HAVE INTERESTS. -John Stewart Mill

Her faith in God. Her devotion to her family. Her love of America. Like the brick in the pavilion that bares her name there is nothing hidden or transparent with Nada McClean. Her willingness to stand out and say who she is and what she believes makes this an appropriate honor for a deserving woman. This brick is dedicated to her by her son with love and affection.

CHRISTIANITY DOES NOT REMOVE YOU FROM THE WORLD AND IT'S PROBLEMS; IT MAKES YOU FIT TO LIVE IN IT TRIUMPHANTLY AND USEFULLY. -Charles Templeton

Mom has always held a deep religious conviction that all that can be solved is solved through God and that which is unresolvable is comforted by the lessons of the Bible and the words of Christ. She didn't make this commitment to prove that she is a good person. She does it because she is a good person and by sharing it with others there is the chance to spread the peace that she has found with the Lord. As Walt Witman said "In the faces of men and women I see God." Her view of people even those with whom she disagrees is tempered by that understanding.

A MOTHER IS NOT A PERSON TO LEAN ON BUT A PERSON TO MAKE THE LEANING UNNECESSARY. - Dorothy Canfield Fisher

No emotion runs deeper in my mother than that of responsibility to her family. Her commitment to our family has been all encompassing. Whether it was as a baseball fan for her son; as an equestrian's assistant for her daughter; working as a legal secretary as her husband went to school or as his bookkeeper/receptionist in his optometry practice her role was to ameliorate her family's activities while keeping the family functioning as a unit. Now, married 50 years, she constantly cares and watches over her mother with the same level of responsibility and compassion that she did when her children were growing up.

The motherly instinct holds no generational boundaries. A busy schedule would not interfere with the preparation and serving of three meals a day; a house kept in immaculate condition; an ear whenever necessary; and a voice when direction or redirection was required. Chauffeur, banker, tutor, maid, cook, psychologist, doctor and referee were all additional positions she filled for the family. But no paid position has ever been as influential as the role Mom assumes in our family.

She would not have it or wanted it any other way. Her interests now have grown to include her grandchildren. Another generation that needs to learn right from wrong; the "Golden Rule" and what it means to be part of a family a community and this country. She will constantly remind her children now parents that they have committed to more than watching them grow. They are after all McCleans and how they act reflects on all that have been blessed with the McClean name.

I KNOW THAT THE LORD IS ALWAYS ON THE SIDE OF THE RIGHT. BUT IT IS MY CONSTANT ANXIETY AND PRAYER THAT I AND THIS NATION SHOULD BE ON THE LORD'S SIDE. - Abraham Lincoln

The Star Spangled banner played so often as an inconsequential prelude to a sporting event or other activity has always brought tears to my Mom's eyes. It’s not the song she thinks it is too hard to sing rather its the deep attachment to her country that swells each time the anthem is played. Like with her family she frets for her country. She was sold on Goldwater in ‘64 and we had a sign to prove it; yet when the country's collective heart knows that Goldwater was right 30 years later Mom now worries about the future and prays that promises made will be promises kept. That those promises are intended to help the country not any individual or group. All she would like is that politicians like all people do the right (verb not a noun) thing. And that thing: do what is best for the country. She loves to travel and see beauty of the people and the land while marveling at the opportunities America has to offer to all who are willing to participate. But when the vacation is over she seldom misses the chance to praise her home in Iowa and the people who live there.

Her roots in Iowa run deep. Born in Newton and having spent her adult life in Ames she is proud to be an Iowan. So then in celebration of the birth of Jesus this Christmas season of 1994 the family of Nada McClean celebrates her faith; her commitment to family; and honors her interest in her country by dedicating a brick a foundation in the pavilion of the Carrie Chapman Catt Hall at Iowa State University. There is no women more deserving of being honored than Nada McClean. My Mom.

12/20/94