Electric Co-op Today

Editor’s Note: Few can provide more insight into the history of the rural electrification program than Judge McLean of Moultrie, Ga. McLean started with co-ops as a teenager in the 1930s, drafting maps and working on staking crews for a company founded by his brother, which launched co-ops all over Georgia and Florida. In World War II, he was a P-47 pilot, flying in the Battle of the Bulge and earning the Belgique Croix de Guerre. He returned to McLean Engineering, where he was president, retiring in 1987. As rural electrification nears its 75th anniversary, McLean shared some of his memories with ECT.coop.

Judge McLean (c) visits with son Mike (r) and E.E. “Skip” Strickland, president and CEO of Berkeley Electric Co-op, who worked for McLean in the 1960s. (Photo By: Micah Ponce)

Q. How did McLean Engineering first get started?

A. My brother E. Price McLean Sr. started McLean Engineering in 1936, the same year the Rural Electrification Administration was founded. In fact, Price helped start quite a few co-ops in Georgia and Florida and that helped him build his business. He would find out when a county commission meeting was going to be held and he would ask to be put on their agenda.

He would explain the REA program to them and then offer to go out in the rural areas and sign people up for electric service. In return, he asked that when they got a co-op started that they allow him to be their consulting engineer. We still do consulting work for a number of the co-ops Price helped start.

Q. How did you first become involved with rural electric cooperatives?

A. Price was so successful in starting co-ops that he soon had more business than he could handle. My brother was 15 years older than me, so I was still in high school when he asked me to come help him during the summers. I learned to run a transit, stake lines according to REA specifications, and do just about everything else associated with power engineering. The next thing I knew I was running a staking crew.