JAMES ALFRED MCALEER
James Alfred McAleer, long-time resident of Glasgow, VA. died Thursday evening,
August 18, 2005 at Heritage Hall Nursing Facility in Lexington at the age of 93.
James McAleer was born August 14, 1912 in Chicago, Illinois, to John A. McAleer.
He graduated from Harvard in 1933, and he married his Weymouth High Shool sweetheart,
Barbara Lee Winchenbach.
The couple settled in the Blacksburg, VA area, for 2 years and then moved to Richmond, VA, where Mr.
McAleer worked for the Work Projects Administration. Mr. McAleer began working for the War Production
Board in Washington, DC in 1942 as a budget and policy analyst.
After the war Mr. McAleer was hired by John Deere & Co. in Moline, Illinois, for several years before
becoming the Manager of Purchasing Research for General Electric in Schenectady, New York. When
this position moved to GE's headquarters in New York City on Lexington Avenue,the McAleers settled in
Larchmont, New York for 15 years.
Mr. McAleer took up sailing again after many land-locked years. His pride and joy was a 24-foot original
design sloop, the first (No. 1) of the popular Raven class designed by his Naval architect brother,
Roger McAleer. It was named the Flying Saucer. Most weekends he sailed Long Island Sound. During this
period, he served as Vice Commodore for the Horseshoe Harbor Yacht Club in Larchmont.
He retired from
General Electric in 1970.
Following his retirement from General Electric in 1970, the McAleers returned to Virginia and
purchased an historic 1778 stone house situated on 4 acres in Rockbridge County. Mr. McAleer ran a
small antiquarian book business. He also acted as publisher-editor on several family projects,
including his mother Katherine's memoir, Down The River, Past My Door (1965), and her earlier
book of poems, From My Window (n.d.;pre-1958).
Barbara McAleer, his wife of 49 years, died December 22, 1982 of malignant melanoma. Two years later,
Mr. McAleer married Kathleen Zollman of Lexington, VA and they remained married for 16 years, until
Kathleen died October 26, 2000. James Alfred McAleer is survived by 3 children: Ellen McAleer Nimick of
Venice, FL and Bay Head, NJ; Beth McAleer of Brookline, MA; and Neil McAleer of Baltimore, MD.
He is also survived by his brother, Roger S. McAleer of Alexandria Virginia, and a sister, Katherine
Defosset of Ojai, CA; 10 grandchildren, 8 great-grandchildren, and 1 great-great grandchild.
Burial will be private. The details of a memorial service, to be held at the Harrison Funeral Home in
Lexington, Va., will be announced by the family at a future date. In lieu of flowers, the family
requests donations be sent in his memory to either of the following charities: the American Heart
Association; or The Irish Ancestral Research Association (TIARA) of Boston.
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