David Ray McLelland

Our favorite Mr. Fix-It, David Ray McLelland, was reunited in Heaven with his junior high sweetheart, Margo Ellen Hayman, on September 1, 2026.

Dave was born on July 19, 1944, in Pocatello, Idaho, with gasoline in his veins. He collected cars like some old ladies collect ceramic cats. He owned 72 cars, give or take, in his lifetime. He rebuilt some to race, only to have to rebuild them again before the next race. His poor parents’ yard looked like a junkyard/used-car dealership, with cars in varying stages of repair…or disrepair. They were excited when he and Margo got married on November 1, 1963. Now he could move out and take his hobby with him.

As a member of Reflections Car Club, he spent years showing off his latest rebuild. He rebuilt a 1970s blue-and-white El Camino, sold it to a wealthy Japanese businessman, and put that money towards a 1937 PT Cruiser, which he traded for help building a much-loved family cabin in Island Park, Idaho. He applied that same philosophy to building or buying a home: fix it up, sell it, and start again until they had a paid-off home.

Dave worked hard his entire life. He ran the family business, McLelland Lumber, for years. After the lumber yard closed, he very naturally transitioned into construction. His skills took him to work in California for a while. Margo stayed in Pocatello with their three kids, Ronald Ray, Kathleen, and Donald David. She said this was a trying time for them, but it ended up rekindling the romance in their relationship. They found themselves talking on the phone for hours, just like giddy teenagers. When he could come home for visits, they made the most of their precious time together by taking the family to American Falls Reservoir to ski and swim.

He continued as a master craftsman at Idaho State University for twenty years while also running his own business, Dr. Remodel. His daughter, Kathleen, loved to test his skills with requests to build an armoire (her prized piece of furniture to this day), ripping out walls or floors, and replacing appliances. He helped her dreams manifest into reality with a hammer and nails.

Along with Dave’s quiet, unassuming demeanor came his remarkably dry sense of humor. He enjoyed surrounding himself with talkers, so he didn’t have to. He was a great listener. He was famous, or infamous, for his zingers. For example, at a family dinner, when the conversation was increasing in decibels, he softly said, “Make sure you eat your carrots and pee on your plate.” The table went quiet; when Papa talked, you listened because it might be profound. I did say “might be”. We all turned to look at him, and he was sitting there stoically eating his pot roast as we all erupted in laughter. He loved the sound of laughter.

Dave had an adventurer’s spirit. After racing stock cars in his youth, tackling being an entrepreneur, relaxing by dragging his kids and grandkids (Mathew, Annie, Kayli, Kira, Kendon, Kyler, and the late Keaton) behind the boat on tubes every weekend for decades, and serving an LDS mission with the love of his life in Kansas City, Missouri, he then discovered his wanderlust. He moved his family memory-making from the water to a global scale by visiting England, France, Greece, and Turkey.

Dave, always the hard worker, volunteered at The Idaho Food Bank the last few years of his life. He loved having a place to go and people to help laugh. A place where he knew he was helping make a difference in others' lives. Being so blessed in life, he was an amazing example of paying it forward. In lieu of flowers, if you’d like to help pay it forward one last time in Dave’s memory, please make a donation to The Idaho Food Bank. You can donate by clicking the following link, which takes you to The Idaho Food Bank donation page. https://idahofoodbank.org

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