Glenn McCrae

Glenn McCrae, 97 of Union, passed away Friday, April 21, 2023 at the Grande Ronde Hospital in La Grande.

A service will be held Friday, April 28, 2023 at 1 p.m. at the Island City Cemetery. 

Arrangements are entrusted to Daniels-Knopp Funeral, Cremation & Life Celebration Center of La Grande.

Leo Glenn was born on June 22, 1925 in Wallowa, Oregon to William Henry and Lillian (Berry) McCrae.  When Glenn was six the family moved to a logging camp on Bear Creek outside of Wallowa and he would drive a team of horses and a small buggy six miles to school.  When the winters were too harsh, he would stay with his cousins in town.  Glenn and his family later moved to Union County where Glenn attended Central School in La Grande before finishing his formal education at Union High School. 

In 1943, at the age of 17, he joined the Navy and served as a Master Gunner aboard the USS Colorado until a Kamikaze pilot destroyed the gun emplacement leaving only two of the crew members surviving, one of which was Glenn.  He waited in New Caledonia until a hospital ship came and transported him back stateside where he remained in the hospital in Astoria until his honorable discharge. 

After he returned home, he met Wilma Delaney and they were married on June 26, 1946 in Union.  Together they had three children, Linda, Corwin and Tom. 

Glenn worked for the Union County Road Department before retiring as a shop foreman in 1985 after 30 years of service.  He was a lifetime member of the High Valley Post #4060 Veterans of Foreign Wars.  He and Wilma spent many winters as snowbirds, several years in Quartzite and a few in Yuma.  Glenn was an avid hunter and fisherman and was a licensed packer out of Wallowa Lake, known as “the Old Man at the Rock”.

Surviving relatives include his wife and best friend of 76 years Wilma of Union; children, Linda (Dan) Hoyt of Union, Tom (Colleen) McCrae of Lewiston, Idaho; 7 grandchildren; 16 great grandchildren; 2 great-great grandchildren and other relatives and friends.

Besides his parents he was preceded in death by his 3 sisters, 4 brothers and his son, Corwin “Cork” McCrae in 2018.

Contributions in memory of Glenn McCrae may be made to the High Valley Post #4060 VFW, 518 Main St., Union, OR  97883, to be used for the benefit of Veterans.

Condolences may be left at www.danielsknopp.com