Neal Edwin Cleland

Neal Edwin Cleland Sr., 88, of Shermans Dale, PA entered into the Kingdom of God on Thursday November 24, 2022 at Country Meadows of West Shore in Mechanicsburg, PA. Born January 25, 1934 in Shermans Dale, he was the son of John Newton and Beatrice V (Ziegler) Cleland. Neal, aka “Ed”, attended Greenpark High School. He began his carpentry career in 1951 when he started working for Reisinger Brothers. He married his wife, Mary Ann (McAlister) of almost 68 years in October of 1954. In 1955, he began a 4-year Apprenticeship program at William Penn High School and graduated from night school with a Structural Engineer Degree. Ed was a long-time member of Young’s United Methodist Church in Shermans Dale. As a gentleman farmer, Ed took great pride in his massive vegetable gardens, fruit orchard and livestock raised to feed his family. He loved the outdoors and hunting in particular. He spoke of fond memories of his many hunting trips out West, in Virginia, and locally, especially with friends and family. Later in life he grew to love bird-watching and keeping track of migrations. Ed and his wife traveled the world, with a particular love of Hawaii, where they traveled on three occasions. They spent their wedding anniversary in the New England states every October on a leaf-peeping trip. Ed’s carpentry skills were highly respected. On a daily basis he would travel and work 8-10 hours a day with the specialty contracting firm out of Harrisburg, Novinger’s Inc., He would then go home, grab a quick dinner with family and head out to one of the myriad personal contracting jobs he was doing for a friend or neighbor, that is if he wasn’t building one of his own 4 homes. In Perry County, he was most well-known for building additions onto family homes and custom cabinetry. His most notable work in Harrisburg was hanging more than 300 doors in the Strawberry Square complex and 800 doors in the office building next to it. Ed was a lifelong Union carpenter with Local 287 & 431. He retired from professional carpentry in 1996, after working 27 years with Reisinger Brothers and 17 years with Novinger’s Inc. Ed is survived by his younger brother Donald Cleland and wife Maggie, of Shermans Dale; a son Neal Jr. and wife Margit, of Colorado Springs, CO; son David and wife Denise, of Carlisle; foster daughter Frances Fry Smith and husband Dana, of Elizabethtown; daughter April Skethway and husband Shawn, of Elliottsburg; as well as 5 grandchildren: Adam Cleland, Ashley Cleland, Matthew Skethway and wife Chloe, Nathan Skethway, and Andrew Smith. He also has 5 great-grandchildren: Zachary, Lilyana and Evan Cleland and Brynley and Teagan Skethway. He was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Ann Cleland in January 2022, five of his 6 siblings- brother John, sisters Dorothy Barrick, Romaine Weaver, Emma Mundorf and Fern Cleland as well as a grandson, Sharn Cleland, son of Neal Jr. A celebration of Ed’s life will be held at Young’s U.M. Church in Shermans Dale on Tuesday, November 29, 2022. Don your flannel or plaid and visit with the family beginning at 11:00 am until the service, which will begin at 1:00 pm. A private burial will be held at the convenience of the family. In lieu of flowers, please honor his memory with a donation to the Pennsylvania Parks and Forests Foundation. Payments should be mailed to PPFF, 704 Lisburn Road, Suite 102 Camp Hill, PA 17011. A tribute form may be downloaded here: https://paparksandforests.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Tribute-Form.pdf Please indicate on the form that you would like your donation in memory of Neal E. Cleland to support the work at Little Buffalo State Park in Newport, PA. He was proud of his work in the original construction of this state park so near to his hometown and visited there frequently. Boyer Family Funeral Homes and Cremation Services of New Bloomfield is honored to handle the arrangements for the Cleland Family.

Neal Edwin Cleland

January 25, 1934 - November 24, 2022