Archives West Finding Aid

James D. McClary was a native Boisean who was an engineer and executive vice president and later Chairman of the Board of the Morrison-Knudsen Company, Inc. He began working for the company while in high school as a laborer, and joined as an engineer after graduating from Stanford in 1938. He was also on the board of trustees of Boise Junior College and Boise College and was on the Boise State University Foundation board. He was also the Idaho chairman of the Goldwater for President Committee and served on various engineer committees. Mary J. "Janey" McClary was an active community member in Boise. She graduated from the University of Nebraska with a business and mathematics degree in 1937 and traveled with her husband James on all of his assignments. She was known for her humanitarian and civic activities, including serving on the boards of directors of the Idaho Children's Home, Booth Memorial Hospital, and the Boise Community Chest, as well as serving as chairman of the Ada County Republican Central Committee.