Memorable Manitobans: Clair Addison Clendening (1885-1950)

Engineer.

Born at Walkerton, Ontario on 8 March 1885, he received an engineering degree from the University of Toronto in 1907. He came to Manitoba in 1910 and joined the staff of Winnipeg Hydro during construction of its hydroelectric plant at Pointe du Bois. In 1926, he joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force and served overseas until the end of the First World War, being discharged with the rank of Captain. He returned to Winnipeg in 1919 and resumed his duties with the power company. He was Commissioner of the Manitoba Power Commission (predecessor to Manitoba Hydro) from 1924 to 1927.

From 1927 to 1938, he was Vice-President of Winnipeg Heating, Northern Public Service Corporation, and National Utilities Corporation, being made President of the latter in 1938. He retired in 1948 due to ill health. During the Second World War, he received the Order of the British Empire for his service as Chairman of the Reestablished Credit Advisory Committee.

On 10 September 1919, he married schoolteacher Christine Margaret Taylor (1883-1972) at Brandon and they had two daughters: Jane Willmott Clendening (1922-2014, wife of Philip P. Mazor), and Ann Clendening (1925-?, wife of S. W. Bates). Active in sports, he hunted and fished, serving as President of the Manitoba Fish and Game Association. He was a member of the Elmhurst Golf and Country Club.

He died at Winnipeg on 26 June 1950 and was buried in the Elmwood Cemetery. At the time of his death, he lived at 264 Niagara Street.

Sources:

Attestation papers, Canadian Expeditionary Force, Library and Archives Canada.

Marriage registration [Addison Clane Glendening, Margaret Christine Taylor], Manitoba Vital Statistics.

Birth registration [Jane Willmott Clendening], Manitoba Vital Statistics.

1926 Canada census, Library and Archives Canada.

“Ex-Hydro Commissioner Clair A. Clendening dies,” Winnipeg Free Press, 27 June 1950, page 32.

Obituary [Christine Margaret Clendening], Winnipeg Free Press, 12 December 1972, page 35.

Obituary [Jane Mazor], We Remember.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 6 September 2021

Memorable Manitobans

Memorable Manitobans

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