Sentries of History

Sentries of History

Making Toy Soldiers

photos and story by Amy Barnes

Over the nine years that Alan and Becky McClure have lived on Nottingham Drive in Medina, they have become known in the neighborhood for helping others, no matter the trouble, said Becky McClure.

They even have rescued 23 cats who were either strays or were dumped in the neighborhood.

“We’re just really good at catching cats,” said Becky McClure, with a shrug.

What is not as commonly known is that, at one time, Alan McClure accidentally became the biggest worldwide manufacturer of Marine Corps figures, something he did not plan when he was a kid playing with his plastic green Army men on the floor.

McClure said that he was chunky as a kid, so it was difficult to find clothes that would fit him. The only place his mother could find clothes for him was at Wooster’s Freedlander’s, which was much like Cleveland’s Higbee’s.

It was on one such shopping trip that a 9-year-old McClure spotted a child’s kit to cast toy soldiers. He begged to have the kit.

On his 10th birthday, he was thrilled to find the kit was his. Marketed for use by children, the kit involved pouring hot lead into metal molds to make toy soldiers.

McClure laughs about it now, looking back and thinking about what kids were given as toys.

Read the rest of the story at: https://issuu.com/joyofmedinacounty/docs/joy_december_2021/4?e=29009715/57680100