Mark Mclelland

Mark McLelland, age 68, died June 14, 2014, from bile duct cancer. Mark was born in 1945 in Pratt, KS, the son of Doug and DaVene McLelland.

Mark grew up in Pratt and graduated from Pratt High School in 1963, where he played saxophone in the band. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, Astronomy and Mathematics from KU in 1967 and a Master of Arts in Economics from KU in 1968.

Mark met his wife as an undergraduate and they married in 1967 and lived in Lawrence while he attended graduate school at KU. He was working on his PhD when he was drafted in 1969 and served 2 years in the U.S. Army. After completing his military service, he worked as an economist at the Federal Home Loan Bank in Topeka from 1971 until his retirement in 2009.

Mark's many interests included astronomy, reading, model railroading, photography, music and travel. His family spent many nights watching the sky for meteors and satellites, and using a telescope to see the moons of the larger planets. Mark loved to read science fiction, mysteries and science books. Richard Feynman, Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson were men he greatly admired.

He had a lifelong interest in trains and model railroading; watching them, but also collecting items to build a model train layout. He had a book describing ghost railroads in Colorado (places where narrow gauge railroad tracks had been removed and turned into roads) and he enjoyed driving those roads looking for old railroad spikes while on vacation there.

Mark and his wife enjoyed bird watching and driving through Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area and Quivira National Wildlife Refuge on the way home from visiting his parents and grandmother in Pratt. He enjoyed taking photographs of the birds and other wildlife on these trips; some of his photos were enlarged and hung on the walls of his home and office. One of his photos of his daughter's dance recital won an award in a local competition. He loved 1950's and 1960's Rock and Roll music best of all, but he also loved classical music.

While on business trips he enjoyed exploring cities, especially Washington D.C., New York City, Phoenix and Seattle. His wife enjoyed family history research and he willingly traveled all over the U.S., Canada and Europe looking for burial places of their ancestors, also visiting courthouses and libraries. He enjoyed watching football, baseball, golf, Nascar and Mythbusters.

Mark had a fantastic memory and was excellent at trivia contests. He had a great sense of humor and laughed a lot.

Mark is survived by his wife, daughter, son, mother, sister and two nieces.
Memorial donations may be made to The Cholangio Carcinoma Foundation, The Planetary Society, Society for Science & the Public, KU Endowment, KTWU, or the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library.