The Callans and McClarys, by John Edward Callan - Callanworld

and Hubert was too formal).
Bert grew up in a lower
middle class neighborhood in
Boonville about ½ block from
where his mother still lives. He
had a happy childhood, many
friends in the neighborhood, and
has many fun memories of
growing up. The family lived
close to the edge of town so he
had woods & pastures to play in
as well as quiet neighborhood
streets. He had occasional
physical limitations due to
chronic asthma, but most of the
time could participate in everything.
He also began to wear
glasses for nearsightedness in the
third grade.
Bert was a very good, but
not excellent, student through
high school, graduating in the top
10% of his class of 100. The only
“unsatisfactory” grade he got was
in the second grade for chewing
gum in class.
Bert went to work at Long’s
Drug Shop at age 13 in order to
have spending money, and for
several years he also contributed
some towards the family finances.
He worked about 30
hours per week during school,
and about 55 hours per week in
the summer. His father, Clinton
McClary, unknowingly set up the
two major focuses of the rest of
his life. He had told a neighbor
about an opening for a clerk at
the store, and later when the
owner needed a “stock boy” the
neighbor told Bert about the job.
This of course started his professional
career. He was a skinny
little eighth grader not much
over 5 feet tall, and the stock boy
he replaced was a handsome six
feet four inch senior, John Davis,
Beth’s brother. He met Beth later
at the store, but their relationship
did not begin for several years. It
may well not have happened had
it not been for this casual acquaintance.
The first real trauma in his
life was when his best friend was
killed in a car accident when he
was 16.
Bert attended the School of
Pharmacy at the University of
Missouri at Kansas City. Math
and chemistry weren’t his strongest
classes, and he did much
better in biological sciences, but
no academic honors. He was very
active in student professional
activities and was president of his
graduating class. He did not
consider graduate school at the
time, and years later the program
he would liked to have done
required driving to St. Louis (150
miles) two nights a week after
work.
Beth’s mother was terminally
ill when Bert graduated in 1966,
so Bert and Beth came to
Boonville and he started work at
the University of Missouri-Columbia
Hospital and Clinics. He
continued there as Assistant
Director of Pharmacy Services for
22 years. Deciding he needed a
change, in 1988 he accepted a job
with the Missouri Department of
Health in Jefferson City and
worked for 13 years as pharmacy
consultant for the Department,
and as Assistant Administrator of
the Bureau of Narcotics and
~ 95 ~
Dangerous Drugs. He accepted
an early retirement offer in
2000, and he continues to work
about half-time. Bert’s current
job is much the same as before
(except no management responsibility):
evaluating drug control
in licensed health-care facilities,
writing and interpreting drug
control regulations, and investigating
and disciplining licensed
health-care professionals for
violations of controlled substance
laws. His “retirement”
came shortly after the birth of
their first (and so far only)
grandchild, Steven Coltrane
McClary-Day, who lives next
door to Bert and Beth. He
manage to spend a day or two a
week as babysitter.
Beth McClary went to high
school at the apostolic school of
the Sisters of St. Joseph in
Concordia, Kansas. She was
home only during holidays and
vacations. She served as lifeguard
and taught swimming
lessons at the local pool in the
summer. After high school she
continued as a novitiate at the
convent. She made first profession
of her vows in August,
1963, taking the name Sister St.
Matthew, in honor of her father
Mathew Davis. Her father
attended this ceremony with her
family. Beth says she remembers
little of the activities outside
the ceremony, but does
remember laughing with her
best friend about how to go to
the bathroom wearing their new
habits. Her description of the
process was somewhat more
The Callans and McClarys
John Kevin McClary, age 2, and Nancy Anne
McClary, age 3.
graphic than this. After leaving
the convent in 1964 she attended
one year at St. Mary’s Hospital
School of Nursing in Kansas
City. Bert and Beth were married
on July 31, 1965.
Beth worked occasional
part-time jobs with her father and
drove a school bus while the
children were young. She went to
work full time in 1974 after the
family moved to Columbia. Her
employer was then known as
Philips & Company, a privately
owned electrical supply distributor
with seven stores in Missouri.
It has been sold to several
corporate entities, and currently
is owned by Consolidated
Electrical Distributors (CED)
which operates about 500 stores
in the United States and Europe.
Beth started in this blue
collar environment selling
lighting fixtures in the showroom.
She quickly advanced to
purchasing agent for the Colum-