Clara Belle McClelland

Clara Belle (Houser) McClelland – Florida

2nd Timothy 4:7

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.

Mrs. Clara Belle (Houser) McClelland, 93, formerly of Bristol, VA passed away Friday, November 7, 2025, with her family by her side in Florida.

Clara was born in Bristol, VA on August 14, 1932, and was the daughter of the late Earl Herman and Edna Mae (Pritchard) Houser.

She was a graduate of Virginia High School in her hometown of Bristol.

After graduating high school, Clara worked for United Telephone Company as a long-distance operator and later worked at Burlington Mills Company, both in Bristol.

She met Herbert Jennings McClelland, Sr. from Gate City, Virginia while working. They would marry March 16, 1952. The two were happily married 64 years before his passing on April 25, 2016. They were married at the Broad Street Methodist Church, Kingsport, TN, and then started housekeeping in Scott County, VA.

In 1953, the couple moved to Wise, Virginia, where they called home for 42 years. There they raised two sons, Dennis Martin McClelland and Herbert Jennings McClelland, Jr.

Clara served as Secretary of the Wise Junior League for a term, and she served as Co-Secretary and Treasurer of the Wise Little League program for 11 years. She also served as a co-den mother for a Cub Scout Troop. She partnered with other parents to start the Wise Teen Club and was the author of a letter sent to the actor George C. Scott asking him to donate his childhood home to the Town of Wise for a teen club center, which he did.

With her husband and some friends from the United Methodist Church of Wise, a gospel quartet was born. The quartet performed in the church, on WNVA radio, and traveled as guest performers in churches and clubs in Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

In addition to her parents, and her husband, her sister Betty, brothers, Richard Houser and Ralph Houser and wife, Beverly, granddaughter, Brittainy McClelland, sister-in-law, Helen Stallard and husband, Jim, and brother-in-law, Kenneth Sloat.

She is survived in death by her beloved family, sons, Dennis McClelland and wife, Rebecca, and Herbert McClelland, and wife, Janet, grandsons, Dennis Martin McClelland and wife, Lindsay, Matthew McClelland and wife, Alyssa, granddaughters, Sarah Pruitt and husband, Christian, Terra Heath, great grandsons, Bennett McClelland, Lucas Ingram, and Jack McClelland, great granddaughters, Mary Grace Pruitt, Samantha Ingram, and Nora McClelland, sister-in-law, Evelyn Sloat, nieces, Helen Sloat, Ann Stallard, Mary Jean Shannon and husband, Bruce, Edna and Ruby Houser, and nephews, Richard Stallard and wife, Joan, and Morgan Houser.

The family will receive friends from 10:00 -11:00 a.m., Saturday, November 15, 2025, at the Gate City Funeral Home. Funeral services will be conducted at 11:00 a.m., in the Gene Falin Memorial Chapel of the funeral home with Minister Larry Arnold officiating.

Burial will follow at Holston View Cemetery, Weber City, VA. Family and friends will serve as pallbearers.

An online guest register is available for the McClelland family at www.gatecityfunerals.com.

Gate City Funeral Home is honored to be serving the family of Mrs. Clara Belle (Houser) McClelland.