Maurice Barclay

Profile Updated: January 10, 2015
Class Year: 1964
Residing In: LaGrande, OR USA
Spouse/Partner: Divorced...I am sorry that I don't know her name!
Occupation: retired (railroad)
Children: unknown
Comments:

Maurice graduated with me in 1968. He worked for Union Pacific railroad and has retained an interest in trains ever since; with a Bachelor of Science in History and has been able to answer my numerous RR questions. He has a terrific amount RR information by virtue of his education and employment and I found him to be a veritable font of very reliable information.
School Story:

We visited be telephone monthly over the past two years. He was something of a recluse so in the interest of our friendship I did not ask him about his relatives...to my eternal distress. I met him in college where we shared history classes. Even then he never spoke of his family. AND I failed to diligently research his background. One of us called the other every month (alternatively); Maurice was more reliable than I at first. When I recovered my health I was able to initiate my own bi-monthly share of calls.

Maurice told me of having a problem at work and he let it slip in his deepest voice and told the foreman that he would ask Mr Durant of this problem and the foreman became very solicitous and apologized to Maurice; and had no further problems. It turns out that Maurice's education served him well for he knew that the RR always had a Durant on the payroll...Mr Durant had been both a principle founder of the RR and was I believe a distant relative of Maurice's. Maurice said that the name of Durant was synonymous with a current television show about founding of the RR named "Hell On Wheels". Strangely enough I watch that very show each week...for the historic setting and the TRAINS.

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Susan Lewis Kubler
Susan Lewis Kubler has left an In Memory comment for Maurice Barclay.
Jul 03, 2015 at 8:33 PM

My dear friend, Maurice Barclay, died on December 12, 2014.  He had been ill for several years with emphysema.  We were friends from my junior year at LHS when we were in Opal Chapman's speech class.  Maurice graduated from Eastern Oregon College in 1968.  He worked for Terry Trailers for a while before he went on to Wichita, Kansas where he received his Masters degree in History.  He eventually went to work for the Union Pacific Railroad as a bus driver for the train maintenance crews.   He married Kathy Gray Fuentes a few years later and adopted her 2 boys, Mark and Steven. Maurice and Kathy were divorced after 8 years of marriage.  Maurice continued to work for the railroad until his mother became ill.  He then decided to become his mother's caregiver.  He stopped working for the railroad and began working for WalMart and teaching history through the Eastern Oregon University distance education program.  At the time of his death, Maurice was living in La Grande in the Flying K Trailer Park.  He stayed in control of his life until the very end.  I miss him tremendously.

Susan Lewis Kubler (Class of '65)

Maurice Barclay
Maurice Barclay has been added to In Memory. New comment added.
Jan 13, 2015 at 6:20 PM

Posted on: Jan 13, 2015 at 4:32 PM