Edwin W. McClain's Obituary
Edwin W. McClain, 93, of Fayetteville, AR, died peacefully on Thursday, December 17, 2009. He was born July 20, 1916, in western Oklahoma, the son of Joseph and Effie McClain.
Throughout his life he was committed to learning and teaching. He began teaching at age 18 at Shady Grove, a two-room school on Highway 71B south of Springdale, AR. In 1942, he completed his fifth year of teaching in Arkansas public schools and finished his M.A. degree in English and Psychology at The University of Arkansas. While serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he was injured in a land mine explosion in Germany and was hospitalized for seven months.
After the war, he pursued further studies in English and Psychology at The University of Minnesota. He then taught English for a number of years at Hardin-Simmons University. In 1961, after earning a Ph.D. degree in Personality Psychology at The University of Texas, he joined the faculty at The University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Except for a special teaching assignment in England, he remained at UT-Knoxville until his retirement in 1982. Wherever he lived, he was active in religious education. After his retirement, he joined St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Fayetteville, where he led the Jung study group for ten years.
Although teaching was his main interest, he also enjoyed research, particularly as to the function of religion in personality development. He presented findings of these research projects at meetings of various professional associations and published 20 reports on his work in professional journals. He was very active in Division Number 35 of the American Psychological Association (Psychologists Interested in Religious Issues) and the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. His largest research project was a cross-cultural study of identity formation among adolescents in the United States and four countries in Europe.
He is survived by his wife, Martha Moore Hutchins McClain; sister-in-law, Belva McClain, Bentonville, AR; stepsister, Mary Sawyer, Rialto, CA; stepsons: Grant Hutchins, Westerly, RI; Richard Hutchins, San Antonio, TX; David Hutchins, Knoxville, TN; four grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, on Thursday, January 14, 2010, at 10:30 a.m.
Memorials may be made to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Memorial Fund, PO Box 1190, Fayetteville, AR 72702 or to Butterfield Trail Village Foundation, 1923 East Joyce Blvd., Fayetteville, AR 72703.
Visitation Date Time None Visitation Location Service Date Time To be announced at a later date Service Location St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Fayetteville, AR
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