Clarence Edwin "Ted" McLane passed away on January 21, 2018, at Covenant Hospice with his family at his side. Ted was born July 11, 1935, to Clarence Edwin McLane Sr. and Ruth Ogden McLane Harston.

After his parents divorced, Ted and his mother lived with his great grandmother until his mother married an Air Force Sergeant, and they moved to Ohio where Ted entered Ohio State University.  He dropped out of OSU and joined the Navy when his family moved to Japan.

A four-year tour in the U.S. Navy included a Mediterranean cruise on an LST after which, he was assigned to Cecil Field in Jacksonville, Florida.  There he met and married Mary Ann FitzSimons.   She provided the impetus for Ted to leave the navy.  At this point Ted entered the banking business in Jacksonville.  During his eight years with the bank, he used the GI Bill to attain an AS degree in Business Administration from Jones College.  He joined the staff of Bay National Bank and Trust Company and moved the family to Panama City in 1965.

In 1968 Ted became an assistant vice-president in commercial lending at Commercial Bank. He was certified by the three-year curriculum of the School of Banking of the South at Louisiana State University in 1969.   In 1976 he became Senior Vice-President/Senior Loan Officer.  In 1987, he was promoted to Executive Vice-President.  In 1989 he left to become President of SouthTrust Bank of Northwest Florida.  Ted retired from banking in 1998 in Inverness, Florida.

During this 21 years, he began volunteering in the community and he also joined the St. Andrews Bay Yacht Club.  Ted quickly became involved in making Bay County a better place to live.  He supported youth activities in which sons Dunkin and "little" Ted were involved—including building a soapbox derby car that "little" Ted raced down the hill on 11 ^th street, and encouraging Dunkin's interest in sailing. Ted's leadership skills surfaced as he served on many county boards including the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, Gulf Coast Community College Foundation, and the Panama City Marine Institute.  He was vice chairman of Boy Scouts of America Lake Sands District, President of the Salvation Army of Bay County, president of United Way of Bay County, and he served as president of the Library Board twice.  He was vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce, and refused the position of president because he was uncomfortable with public speaking.  That changed with his participation in Rotary.  He became president of the Downtown Rotary Club and a Rotary International District Governor.  He was a founding member of the Northside Rotary and was made an honorary lifetime member.  His Rotary involvement garnered him the Paul Harris Fellow Award.  Ted was a member of the Krewe of Rats and a GFWC Woman's Club Booster.  He also was chairman of the Jacksonville district of the Small Business Administration Advisory Council

The Yacht Club became the social and recreational outlet for the McLanes.  Fish class boats were being phased out and the Flying Scot became the boats about which many stories have been told.  One Mid-Winter Regatta saw Ted skippering, in the Challenger Division, against Dunkin and his crew.  Ted's boat cut Dunkin's off just prior to a nasty storm.  In the melee, Ted was thrown overboard.  In the twenty minutes it took to rescue him, he lost Ray Ban sunglasses and new boat shoes.  Dunkin won the race. Those were also the days when Ted showed up at the club with either a banjo or guitar for a sing-a-long.   He was particularly fond of singing Frank Sinatra's "My Way."

Ted became Commodore of the St. Andrews Bay Yacht Club in 1977.  In 1989, he was elected Commodore of the Gulf Yachting Association (GYA) that was comprised of 28 clubs in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.  He was also a member of the Florida Commodores Association.

Ted was preceded in death by his parents, brothers William and Danny Harston, and his wife of 56 years, Mary Ann FitzSimons.  He is survived by his wife Margaret "Peggy" Geil-Beem McLane, sons, Dunkin (Edwina) and Ted (Angela); grandchildren, Samuel, Julia, and Chandler McLane.  He is also survived by stepdaughter, Tammy Smith (Scott) and their children Reagan and Keegan.

A Celebration of Life will be held at Holy Nativity Episcopal Church on Thursday, January 25, at 2:00 p.m. with The Reverend Steve Bates and The Reverend Tom Weller officiating.  The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service in Battin Hall at the church.  Serving as pall bearers are John Cheshire, Larry Dantzler, Charlie Gramling, Deck Hull, Bruce Klein, and A.C. Littleton.  Honorary pall bearers are the St. Andrews Bay Yacht Club past commodores, Krewe of Rats, and the First United Methodist Church Asbury Sunday School Class.