We regret to advise of the death of Thomas Gerald Clendenning P. Eng. on 6 December 2005 at Eagle Terrace in Newmarket, ON. Born in 1918 on the family farm near Gananoque, ON, he was a Royal Canadian Engineer veteran of WW II.
Thomas completed high school in the town of Gananoque and then went to Queen's University in Kingston. He finished his studies at Queen's in 1941 and joined the Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers - pleased to be excused from final exams for doing so. He was posted first to England to complete his training and while in the UK he contributed to the concept and development of the “Flail” engineer mine-clearing tank variant.
Thomas saw action during the Italian campaign as a combat engineer officer where his unit was heavily involved in constructing Bailey Bridges as well as clearing mines and other obstacles. After the Italian Campaign his unit moved on to Northwest Europe to support the advancing Allied forces He was present in Holland for their liberation.
After returning to Canada and being demobiilzed, Tom joined Ontario Hydro. While with Ontario Hydro he was responsible for landmark research in developing a revolutionary, non-cracking, concrete for Ontario Hydro dams by incorporating high-carbon fly ash into the concrete. He was a founding member of the Canadian Concrete Institute and sat on several standards committees. His work extended to the durability of concrete and, when Ontario Hydro (now Ontario Power Generation) began designing nuclear-powered stations with all kinds of proposals for waste storage, he successfully advocated for concrete storage. Tom retired from Ontario Hydro in 1983. As a private consultant he worked on the construction of the Toronto City Hall, Trent University and the CN Tower.
Burial in the Gananoque Cemetery. The family would be thankful for donations in his memory to the Canadian Red Cross or to Queen's University in lieu of flowers. {khJan2016}