A remembrance service is scheduled for John McClay Close at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 4 at the Presbyterian Church in Madera. He will be buried at the Alexandra Cemetery in Madera, with military honors accorded by the Osceola Mills Honor Guard.
Mr. Close was born in Philipsburg and was raised in Madera. He graduated from the Madera High School in 1960, where his father George McClay Close was the principal.
He started his higher education career at Penn State in 1960 and later enrolled in classes at Elizabethtown College and took classes at Case Western in Cleveland, OH and also Clarion State College. He served two tours of duty in the U.S. Army 11th Armored Calvary Regiment (Blackhorse Regiment) as a scout observer and personnel specialist during the Vietnam War from 1966-69. He received a bronze star.
He moved to Pittsburgh in 1969 and completed his undergraduate, master’s and post doc degrees at the University of Pittsburgh. He was an associate professor in the
Department of Dental Public Health/Information Management at the University of Pittsburgh, where his course load included statistics, research design and methodology, program evaluation and scientific writing. He was an active member of Faculty Assembly and Senate Council at the University of Pittsburgh, serving on more than a dozen committees. He was also a member of Omicron Kappa Upsilon Honor Dental
Society, American Association for Dental Research and was a lifetime member of the Alumni Association at the University of Pittsburgh.
Outside the University, he was a member of Mensa, Intertel and the Amateur Astronomers Association.
He’s survived by his wife of 40 years, Donna Close; his children, Heather Leanna Close, Ashley Georgina Close and Christa Elizabeth Close and Terry Shea; his grandchildren, Miranda Shea and Fionna Shea; his sisters, Ellen Robina Greenawalt and Georgia Jean Shomo; his nieces, Mary Christina Hegarty Savage, Jeanne Hegarty George (Robert), Paula Jean Shomo and nephews; Patrick George Greenawalt (Janet), Gerald Allan Greenawalt (Loraine), William Allan Mohney (Dawn) and Donald Line Mohney (Joyce), William Maurice Hegarty (Michelle), Charles M. Hegarty (Pam) and Dr. Joel McClay Hegarty. He is survived by several cousins.
He was preceded in death by his parents, George McClay Close and Mary Christina Cornely Close and his sister, Mary Joe Hegarty.
