J Kenneth McClurkin

July 6, 1924 - June 9, 2016

Highlights of Life of John Kenneth McClurkin Born in Morning Sun, Iowa – the eldest son of five siblings 7/6/24 Education: Following high school graduation he entered the Army Air Corps Special Training at Berkeley and Harvard. University of California at Berkeley, 1943-44 Math & physics classes. Harvard University, 1945 Pepperdine College, Los Angeles, CA, Bachelor of Arts, Math, 1946-48. USC, Engineering Dept., 1948. Masters in Education, 1953 Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, Summer Institute in Math, 1962-63. San Diego State College, Summer Institute in Math, 1968 Oregon State College of Education, Monmouth, OR, 1969 Teaching Experience: Escondido High School 1949-1980 San Diego State University supervision of teachers 1980-82 Key Achievements: Math Department Chairman, President of Faculty Association, Escondido High School, Escondido, CA. Faculty sponsor for high school math teams competing at San Diego State, UCSD, Pomona College and Convair Master’s degree project at USC entitled: “Course Outline for High School Physics”. Coordinator of Lake Wohlford Student Retreats. Coordinator and sponsor of first local high school Science Fair. Organized and ran tennis tournaments for Escondido City Parks and Recreation Department. Personal: Ken married Joanne Whitworth from Eugene, OR in 1966. They built an adobe home in his avocado grove in Escondido, where they raised two sons, John Calvin born March 1968, and Stephen Kenneth born 1970. John Calvin married Shari Watson in 2006. Their son Greyson was born in 2014. Stephen married Amber Proctor in 2002. They have three children, Logan (2004) Sidney (2007) and Colton (2009). Significant Events of Ken McClurkin’s Life Following high school in 1942 (WWII) Ken went to UC Berkeley for special training. Another young soldier, Bob Hopkins, challenged him to establish a close personal walk with Christ and to begin a scripture memory program by the Navigators. In 1965 Ken and Joanne mailed their engagement announcement to Bob and Laurie Hopkins, who were supervising the Navigator work in Germany. Laurie Smith Hopkins had discipled Joanne Whitworth at Colorado College in 1956 when Laurie lived at the nearby Navigator conference center in Glen Eyrie. While teaching at Escondido High School in 1953-1955, Ken organized the Lake Wohlford Retreats. Contact with Bill Bright, director of Campus Crusade for Christ at UCLA, resulted in football players from the UCLA championship team speaking to the Escondido High School students, along with a Whittier College cheerleader, Shirley Milligan. When Shirley joined the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ she became the national women’s trainer for Joanne Whitworth, who was on staff at the University of Minnesota. Joanne introduced her University of Oregon student body president, Bud Hinkson, to Campus Crusade for Christ, which later resulted in the marriage of Bud and Shirley. It was a joy to have Shirley as a bridesmaid in Ken and Joanne’s wedding on June 18, 1966. Following attending conferences at Forest Home, where he wrote in the Prayer log at the Chapel, God gave Ken a ministry of prayer for students and teachers at Escondido High School. At the time when she joined the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ in 1957, Joanne Whitworth also wrote in the Prayer log at the Forest Home Conference Center. Regarding Ken’s ministry of prayer for his family, one significant answer was the birth of baby Greyson, son of John and Shari McClurkin. They lived in the adobe home with Grandparents Ken and Joanne for a four month period, during which Greyson loved to scatter Grandpa’s many scripture memory verses all over the living room floor. Ken not only had a ministry of prayer for his family, his neighborhood and his country, but also for missionary friends around the world, as well as for friends in churches where he served as elder for several congregations.