James Robert "Bob" McCandless, Jr.

James Robert “Bob” McCandless, Jr. of Clarksville, IN passed away Tuesday, June 4, 2024. Bob was born in Louisville, KY on April 16, 1941. After high school, Bob served active duty in the United States Air Force for 6 months as an aircraft mechanic and then went on to serve seven years in the Kentucky Air National Guard. In 1961 he began a 23-year career working for Western Electric as a telephone system installer. In 1960, Bob went on a blind date where he met the love of his life, Martha Powell.  He and Martha married in 1962 and spent a wonderful 62 years together.  In 1985, Bob opened his own business, Picture Perfect Framing, in Jeffersonville, IN.  Bob was a perfectionist in everything he did and his attention to detail shined through in every frame he made for his customers.  Throughout his life, Bob also enjoyed woodworking and building scale models.  After retiring from his framing business in 2002, Bob took his woodworking and model building skills to a whole new level by trying his hand at building model wooden ships.  While this hobby proved to be tedious at times even requiring him to custom make various parts, Bob enjoyed the challenge of building a ship piece by piece, and he ultimately built three of the most beautiful, museum quality model ships, the USS Constitution, USS Constellation, and the HMS Victory, each taking between two and four years to complete. In 2022 he was featured with two of the ships, the Constitution and the Victory, in an article in Jeffersonville’s News and Tribune. Bob was also a Kentucky Colonel, the highest title bestowed by the Governor of Kentucky in recognition of an individual’s noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to community, state, and nation.

Bob was preceded in death by his father, James R. McCandless, Sr., his mother, Zula Irene Shoemaker, and his step-father, Frank Shoemaker.

Bob is survived by his loving wife of 62 years, Martha; daughter Terri L. Taylor of Owensboro, KY; son James R. McCandless (Lynn) of Fayetteville, NC (affectionately known to Bob as Mutt and Jeff); four grandchildren: Liam McCandless, Ainsley Taylor, Aidan Taylor, and Kylie McCandless; and his brother Garry W. McCandless (Rosemary) of Louisville, KY.

Visitation will be held from 1-3pm, Saturday, June 22 at First Southern Baptist Church, 215 E. Ettels Lane, Clarksville, IN followed by a celebration of life service at 3pm.  Donations in lieu of flowers can be made to First Southern Baptist Church.

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