Dan was a pillar of the community. Whether you knew him personally, professionally … you knew this was a good man. – Ed Babcock
Geauga County Sheriff Dan McClelland once had to arrest a former classmate.
When he showed up, the man had just pulled into his driveway with groceries. He asked the sheriff if he could at least unload his groceries before being taken in.
Dan not only said yes, but helped him.
That was the kind of man “Sheriff Dan” was.
Words like kind, compassionate, funny, easy-going, friendly, effective, calm and steady poured from the mouths of friends and loved ones in the days following Dan’s passing April 14 at the age of 67 after a year-long battle with brain cancer.
“Dan was a pillar of the community,” said longtime friend Ed Babcock. “Whether you knew him personally, professionally … you knew this was a good man.”
The Early Years
Dan — born July 2, 1953, and raised on a farm in Montville Township — was a Chardon High School graduate.
He was 16 years old when he met the love of his life, Beverly Groh, also a student at Chardon High School, while they both worked at the Golden Dawn grocery store.
“Dan and Bev married the day she turned 18 and she was with him until his last breath,” Babcock said.
When Dan worked at the grocery store, police officers would often come in and eventually invited him for a ride-along. That moment foreshadowed Dan’s career. A couple of years later, he entered the police academy at Lakeland Community College, graduated in 1975 and was sworn in April 26, 1976, as a part-time sheriff’s deputy in Geauga County. He also earned a degree in criminal justice education from The University of Akron and was a graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Va.
A few years later, Dan and Bev started a family — having son Daniel McClelland, daughter Kelly Slattery and son Andy McClelland.
Dan spent 40 years rising from deputy to being sworn in as sheriff in 2003, following the death of Sheriff George “Red” Simmons.
Prior to Simmons, Dan served under Sheriff James Todd, who often referred to Dan as being someone he could count on to go above and beyond, said Mimi Todd, James’ widow.
“Jim valued Dan’s rapport with all the department members, as well. I can recall a very frightening night when Jim had to be transported to the hospital,” she said. “Dan was at the door before the ambulance, drove me to the hospital and stayed with me until Jim was stable. Compassionate and caring — that is a big part of who Dan was.”
The Good Ole Days
Mike Warner, captain of communications for the sheriff’s office and former fire chief for Concord and Hambden townships, knew Dan since high school.
Warner was a senior at Chardon High School and Dan was a freshman in his brother’s class.
“His wife, Bev, her father was our principal … and that’s where we first met,” Warner recalled. “It was ‘little Dan’ back then because his brother, Dean, was a little older.”
Warner and Dan got to know each other better when Warner was with the Hambden fire department and Dan was a sheriff’s deputy.
Warner recalled a time he and Dan were working the fair together when, he said sheepishly, “I almost killed him.”
“Not on purpose,” he quickly added. “We would pull fair duty. It would get boring in the middle of the night, so we would play cards. We were in a tent.”
Warner said one night, Dan pulled up in a golf cart to take Warner’s place at the card table.
“He said, ‘Don’t touch my golf cart’ and I said, ‘I’m taking it.’ I was in my 20s and never had driven a golf cart before. I just stepped on the gas thinking it was in reverse and I ran right into the back of him, pinned him against the table,” Warner recalled. “He was wearing a vest which was good. It kept him from getting really hurt.”
Warner said he took his foot off the pedal, but then accidentally hit it a second time, again pinning Dan against the card table.
“And Dan said (to the other guys), ‘If he hits me again — shoot him,’” Warner said. “We laughed about that for years.”
Warner also reminisced about the 805 club, an informal name for a group of men who would gather at Jan Farinacci’s garage in Chardon every Saturday morning to shoot the breeze.
The group included himself, Dan, current Geauga County Sheriff Scott Hildenbrand and other sheriff’s deputies, state troopers, funeral director Mark Burr, Geauga-TV owner Dave Jevnikar, Farinacci and others.
“They had gas pumps back then. Many of us would go pump gas for the customers,” Warner recalled. “We would meet there every Saturday morning, all of us. It was called the 805 club because it was five after 8 and we would have coffee … donuts. We got together from different venues, agencies and we could bust each other’s chops a bit. I miss those days because we just had a lot of fun. That was old Chardon.”
Tearful Tributes
Former Geauga County Engineer R.L. Phillips said he not only worked many years with Dan and Bev, but they were also good friends.
“That’s the toughest part,” Phillips said through tears.
In 2008, Phillips was on The Great Geauga County Fair Board and got to know Dan better as they spent five straight days together annually during fair week.
“Dan became a friend and fairly quickly. You get a chance to meet him socially and realize he’s even more fun when he’s not carrying his gun,” Phillips said with a laugh. “(He and Bev) enriched the community by being here. He wasn’t just a sheriff, he was a lot more than that. He knew how to bring people together, he knew how to lighten the topic if he needed to, things like that that are very important to be an effective community leader.”
Phillips recalled Dan’s “even-keeled” temperament and couldn’t remember a time he was ever really mad.
“Dan was always good for a story. He wanted to be on the happy side. That was his comfort zone. He wanted to tell you a 20-year-old story that was funny,” Phillips said. “We’d be talking about something stupid — the dumb criminals who do stupid things … and he’d say, ‘I really appreciate those people. They make my C look like a B plus.’”
For retired Geauga County Common Pleas Court Judge Forest Burt, knowing and working with Dan was just one of the great aspects of being a lawyer and a judge.
“He was a friend for over 40 years, long before he was sheriff, long before I was a judge,” Burt said. “And while he was a fantastic sheriff, he was an even better person and father. He was a great lawman, but also a great politician and I (use that term to mean) someone who serves the public and the people … and Dan did that. You could not say enough good things about Dan.”
Burt said his and many people’s hearts, minds and thoughts go out to Dan’s wife and kids.
“Dan fought a tremendous fight against the cancer. He had the support of his wife and kids and grandkids,” Burt said, referring to the McClellands’ nine grandchildren. “You couldn’t have asked for a better way to pass than to have those people beside you and that’s the way it occurred for him.”
U.S. Congressman Dave Joyce worked with Dan for decades when he was a public defender in the 1980s and then Geauga County prosecutor.
“Over the years, we both progressed in our professions until we held the top legal and law enforcement positions,” Joyce said. “Together, we got to see both the best and worst of our county. No matter the situation, you could count on Dan to be amicable and fair. To everyone. Walking with him at the fair was like being a roadie for a rock star. It would take 45 minutes to walk from his office to the grandstands, but he always took the time to chat with all.
“Personally, I am crushed to learn of his passing,” Joyce continued. “I know how much he looked forward to his retirement with Bev and enjoying the time with his family. Now, he will be keeping watch on them from Heaven and be embarrassed by the accolades he will receive from all of us.”
Bob Faehnle and his wife, Pam, have been friends with the McClellands for 20 years. Bev served as an important board member for Leadership Geauga, where Faehnle, or Dr. Bob as he is known around town, served as executive director for 13 years.
When Faehnle found out about Dan’s passing, he compared it to the song, “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.”
“A light went out today,” he said. “Dan was one of those guys who everybody thinks was one of their best friends. That’s the type of guy who he was. That’s just the way he treated everybody.
“It’s been devastating. He was so ebullient, so vital, so fresh. The (cancer) took that away from him, but it took it away from us. He was our Dan.”
Howard Bates met Dan as a Burton-Middlefield Rotarian where the two spent many years volunteering and raising money for the community.
“He was a service-before-self-guy,” Bates said. “That’s what everyone knew about him, the mantra ‘What could we do to help?’”
Bates, who owns Arms Trucking Co. in Huntsburg Township, said Dan would borrow tractor-trailers to help other communities, like when he took lumber to help with a flood in Portsmouth, Ohio.
He also went out west to South Dakota to pick up items to help Geauga County.
“What happened to him is terrible,” Bates said. “That shouldn’t happen to a guy like him in retirement.”
Terri Stupica recalled her first experiences with Dan. At the end of 2009, she had begun her campaign for Chardon Municipal Court judge, an office she still holds today.
Her dad had just passed away and Dan was there to help guide her through the loss.
“He was a father-like figure, always kind and compassionate,” Stupica said. “You just felt like you knew him your whole life.”
The two became friends and had many speaking engagements together, talking to schools and the community about opioid and addiction issues.
Stupica visited Dan on Palm Sunday, two weeks before his death.
“We were close, and he and his wife were such wonderful, wonderful human beings,” she said. “I don’t know that there are enough great adjectives to describe them.”
Side by Side
Hildenbrand worked with Dan for more than 36 years, starting as a dispatcher in Chardon in 1984.
“Dan would often stop in and chat. Later, when I became a patrolman, we worked together on the road. He would back me up on calls and I would back him up on calls,” Hildenbrand recalled. “I remember that when Dan was a sergeant, he demanded good, hard work from his deputies and was never afraid to be there and work side by side with them. He worked for three different sheriffs and always adapted to their philosophy. We worked up through the ranks all the way to the top.”
When Dan became sheriff in 2003, he asked Hildenbrand to be his chief deputy.
“Dan was a Democrat and I was a Republican and I asked him if he would ask me to change parties. He said, ‘I don’t see any reason to do that. This job is non-political and we serve everyone.’”
The two worked side by side for 13 years.
“He was always friendly and polite. He would wave at almost every car that went by whether he knew them or not. Every time he would see people, he would shake their hand — and everyone in the room if he could,” Hildenbrand said. “Dan loved his job and I learned how to be sheriff from that. It was so much different than writing tickets, writing accident reports and seeing people at their worst times. Dan had it mastered and the people loved him for that. He would stop and talk to anyone that wanted to ask him a question and everyone that wanted his cell phone, had it. He insisted on being very accessible to anyone, whether they needed help or had a complaint.”
Hildenbrand said he and Dan shared the belief their employees are their best asset.
“He was always fair. I am sure there were some people out there that did not like him, comes with the territory, but I can’t name very many of them,” he said. “One of the things he would say is, ‘The elections are never unanimous. We do what we feel is right.’”
Legacies
Dan’s brick and mortar legacy is the Geauga County Safety Center, Babcock said.
“Dan was deeply involved in the design and implementation. By efficiently managing ‘the biggest hotel in the county,’ Dan was able to utilize other law enforcement agencies to generate revenue and pay off the jail years early,” he said.
Hildenbrand added the jail was originally designed to hold two bunks in each cell, however, later plans only included one bunk in each cell.
“Sheriff Dan’s recommendation was to add the second bunk while it was being built,” Hildenbrand said. “‘It will never be cheaper than now,’ he said. Because of that, we were able to house more inmates from other counties and the federal government that paid Geauga County. This helped to pay off the jail project early.”
Notable cases Dan worked on included the Geauga’s Child baby case, Daniel Ott mistaken-identity murder, Danny Boy Edwards murder that serial killer Edward Wayne Edwards committed, Thompson prostitute murders — and the Chardon school shooting.
“Any case that required extra personnel, he was always there to help,” Hildenbrand said.
Warner said Dan was instrumental in building better relationships between Lake and Geauga county law enforcement
“He had that calming (effect), he was always easy going for the most part and he was good to (former Sheriff) Red Simmons. When Red was sick (with cancer), he took very good care of him to make sure he was taken care of and the operation moved forward without any hassle,” Warner said. “That’s just a sheriff you don’t find with a lot of people. Dan was a calm voice. He was like a dispatcher because he was the calm in the storm.”
Warner recalled the Chardon school shooting in 2012 and how Dan was one of the first people on site.
“We’re all Chardon graduates and Sheriff Hildenbrand was in first. Here are guys who went to school there who never thought something like this would happen,” Warner said, adding Dan didn’t think twice about his own safety that day.
“We were sitting around talking about it after and I asked if he had his vest on and he said, ‘No, Bev hollered at me because it was in the trunk of my car,’” he said. “That’s the character of Dan McClelland. He wanted to make sure everything was taken care of (first). It’s community. That is character and that’s a dedication to service.”
Dan’s Little Helper
When most people think of “Sheriff Dan,” they likely also think of Midge, named in the Guinness Book of World Records as the smallest police dog to date.
Little Midge, a rat terrier/Chihuahua mix, was just a puppy and the runt of the litter when co-worker Melissa Metz introduced her to Dan (see sidebar story).
“Tired of seeing big dogs tear up car interiors, Dan took his own little dog, Midge, and trained her to be the world’s smallest drug dog,” Babcock said. “After appearances on ‘Ellen,’ ‘Letterman’ and others, Midge’s popularity soared around the country and even to foreign countries. When Midge retired with Dan … Midge probably ranked somewhere between Lassie and Rin Tin Tin for name recognition.”
Hildenbrand said Dan and Midge spent every day together.
“She went to meetings with him, to calls with him, to public talks, school talks,” he said. “Anywhere Sheriff McClelland went, so did Midge. In fact, I can never remember him not bringing Midge to work with him.”
As in life, his trusted K9 and faithful companion was connected to Dan in death. Just hours after he passed away, Midge died.
She will be buried at his side.
Jamie Ward contributed to this article.
