Duck Parents are rooted in history and giving for the future

Kathleen and Brad McLeroy stood in the University of Oregon’s Pioneer Cemetery. They brushed away the needle-like leaves that had fallen from towering Douglas-fir trees onto the 1898 gravestone of Kathleen’s great-great-grandfather, Andrew Samuel McClure. Moments earlier, they had walked through campus with their son, Lukas, class of 2029 (business), and their daughter, Maya, Robert D. Clark Honors College, class of 2026 (journalism).

For the McLeroys, their connection to the UO weaves together the past, present, and future of their lives. Through their involvement with the Family Advancement Council and gifts supporting the university’s areas of greatest need, they have found meaningful ways to deepen their relationship with a place that has meant so much to their family. 

Following the Oregon Trail

In early spring 1853, Andrew Samuel McClure left the Midwest by wagon on the Oregon Trail, driven forward by the promise of fertile land and new opportunities 2,000 miles to the west. By summer, he’d reached the Malheur River in eastern Oregon’s high desert. Attempting to take a shortcut to the Willamette Valley, Andrew’s travel group of roughly 1,000 people and 250 wagons, today known as the “Lost Wagon Train,” became disoriented, suffering from hunger and thirst in the Cascades. But with perseverance and a rescue effort, Andrew was one of the train’s survivors, ultimately settling in Eugene and having eight kids. 

“I have found five of them in the Oregon student archives, including his one daughter, Jennie, who went to college at a time most women did not,” Kathleen said. “So, between my ancestors who were part of the campus many, many moons ago, to now my two kids taking advantage of everything the UO offers, we feel very, very connected to the school.” 

Indeed, Kathleen’s great-uncle Samuel “Edgar” McClure, born in Eugene in 1861, earned a bachelor’s degree from the UO in 1883 and a master’s in 1886. In addition to being a beloved local mountaineer, Edgar was the first chair of the UO chemistry department. He died in 1897 at the young age of thirty-five on Mount Rainer’s icy slopes while on an expedition to record the peak’s elevation. Photos of him on the mountain with an unwieldy metal barometer strapped to his back capture the intrepid spirit passed down to him from his Oregon Trail–traveling father. The two are buried beside each other in the Pioneer Cemetery.

Several decades later, after Kathleen and Brad met and married in Kansas City, their own call to Oregon began. 

“We had two dogs, a Subaru, and then a buddy of Brad’s followed a few days later with a U-Haul truck,” Kathleen said. “We called it our own personal modern-day Oregon Trail adventure.” 

While Kathleen had worked as a speech language pathologist in Kansas City, Brad was in the wine industry and had been traveling every summer to the International Pinot Noir Celebration in Oregon. The two loved the community they felt when they visited, so they moved to Portland to be ready to jump on the right land opportunity to start their own winery. It happened faster than they expected. The couple had ten minutes to decide whether they’d purchase a 90-year-old hazelnut orchard in Newberg. They chose to leap, soon clearing the blight-infested trees and opening the new Ayres Vineyard to stunning views. 

“Years later, we hosted the International Pinot Noir Celebration on our property, and Brad got to guide everybody and present his own wine to the festival, the very institution that helped launch what we ultimately did,” Kathleen reflected. 

Every member of Kathleen’s family has a typewritten copy of Andrew’s journals from his time on the Oregon Trail. A copy also resides in the UO Special Collections and University Archives. Meanwhile, a wing in the Earl housing complex is named McClure Hall in honor of Edgar’s contributions to campus.

“When we walk around campus and see ‘McClure’ on a dorm—and I’m not a McClure myself—but it’s like, wow, that’s pretty cool to have a building named after our ancestors,” Brad said. 

“I think you’re an adopted McClure by now,” Kathleen smiled. “You’ve been around long enough.” 

A place for Duck parents and their ducklings 

The McClures describe themselves as being rooted in education, a tradition that started on the Oregon Trail, continues today in Maya and Lukas, and, if Kathleen can help it, may just continue with the high school senior niece she’s trying to convince to become a Duck.

Kathleen remembers when Maya decided to go to the UO. Following COVID-19, Maya wanted to get out of Oregon and experience more of the world. But something changed when she visited the campus for Duck Days, the UO’s spring visit program for admitted students and their families. 

“It felt like a giant hug to her,” Kathleen said, recalling how impressed she had been with the UO’s hospitality and care for a generation of students coming out of the global pandemic. “Maya said, ‘I felt like myself on campus. I felt really confident.’”

To scratch the travel itch, Maya instead tapped into Global Education Oregon and committed to studying abroad each summer quarter, including a program in Siena, Italy, before her freshman year. When her studies began, professors and other campus resources supported her through challenging times and encouraged her to pursue her passions in creative writing. Her positive experience had a big impact on her brother. When the time came for Lukas to go to college, he applied to just one school: the UO. He also took advantage of GEO’s pre-freshman program in London, England.

Both supported by academic scholarships, Maya and Lukas are flourishing and gaining global perspectives as Ducks. And as their children have embarked on their undergraduate adventures, Kathleen and Brad have found an anchor point in the Family Advancement Council. This group of dedicated family members plays a pivotal role in enhancing the student experience through philanthropy and helps parents like Kathleen and Brad enjoy the Duck journey in their own way. 

“It is a way to stay connected while still giving our children freedom,” Brad said. “I want to be part of this time in my children’s lives, but not so much that they can’t evolve as humans themselves.” 

Through their involvement with the Family Advancement Council, the couple has enjoyed meeting President Karl Scholz and learning about his philosophy, goals, and vision for the UO. 

“Oregon’s star is rising, and it’s rising pretty fast,” Kathleen said. “Being a part of this group is being a part of that trajectory and potential. It feels like a door opening. The Family Advancement Council is a great, dynamic way to connect with other parents, to be involved with the university, to have rich conversations, and to be a Duck fan.”

Giving back to honor the past, present, and future 

In the McLeroys’ early Oregon winemaking days, Brad would travel to Eugene with a hardcopy phonebook and a flip-phone, trying to sell their libations to local businesses. On these trips, he’d make a prescient stop. 

“I would go by the Pioneer Cemetery, and I’d clean off the McClure gravestones because moss would grow on them,” he said. “And I’d think, the UO is such a cool spot. I was hoping that someday maybe the kids would go here.” 

Today, the McLeroys direct their giving toward the area of greatest need on campus, giving UO leadership the flexibility to invest in programming and services that will help meet the goals of the Oregon Rising strategic plan. Kathleen encourages other parents to pick an area that matches a passion or calling of theirs. She has been inspired by fellow parents’ matching gifts for a variety of impactful campaigns.  

Overall, the McLeroys want to pay tribute to their ancestors and the future they hope their children and other Ducks can have by being bold and taking chances. 

“We have a wine that’s called Pioneer, named after Andrew McClure and his journey to Oregon,” Kathleen said. “We want our kids to embody that, for them to keep paving their own way, and they’re doing that here.” 

Join the McLeroys in being a part of the UO’s rising star and learn more about Parent and Family Engagement and Philanthropy or make a donation to the Duck Family Fund today.