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BIOGRAPHY OF JAMES MICHAEL MCQUILLAN,
GRAND EXALTED RULER 2004-200
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the U.S. A.
James Michael McQuillan was born on April 14, 1942 at Emma Murphy's Maternity Home in Greeley, Nebraska, a small town of 550 residents in central Nebraska to Michael J. and Janet A. Smith McQuillan where he was raised with his six younger sisters. He attended elementary and high school at Sacred Heart School in Greeley and graduated in May, 1960. During the years in Greeley, he delivered daily newspapers, worked in a grocery store, and later in a lumber yard owned by his maternal grandfather who instilled in him the value of hard work and the philosophy that "if there is a job to be done, it should be done well." Jim enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences at Creighton University in Omaha, NE, in September, 1960. During his undergraduate years, he was employed part-time by Arthur Andersen and Company, doing general office work, including the operation of printing equipment. Jim and his high school sweetheart, Karen K. Kennedy, were married on August 31, 1963, in Greeley, and ten days later Jim enrolled at the Creighton University School of Law with Karen being employed as a secretary/receptionist for the Creighton University School of Medicine. During his law school years, Jim worked part-time in the tax department of Arthur Andersen & Company, and received a Jurist Doctor Degree from Creighton on May 31, 1966. By that time Jim and Karen had been blessed by the birth of the first three of their six living children --two sons passed away in infancy, one as a result of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, and a second as a result of premature birth. Jim, Karen and family moved to Ogallala, NE, where Jim began his law practice in July, 1966, which continues to this date with his son, Michael as a partner. He is a member and Past President of the Keith County and Western Nebraska Bar Associations; a member of the Nebraska Sate and Arizona State Bar Associations; and a Fellow of the Nebraska State Bar Foundation. Among his clients are many family farmers and ranchers. Jim has been active in community and church affairs. He coached youth sports teams, served on the Ogallala Airport Authority for three years; on the Ogallala School District No. 1 Board of Education for eight years, being President three of those years; on the Ogallala Country Club Board of Directors; as a member of the Ogallala Jaycees; and Ogallala Optimist Club; as a member of the St Luke's School Board for four years, serving as President his last year; as a member of the St Luke's School Foundation Board; and as a member of the Knights of Columbus Council No. 4979, serving as Grand Knight for two years.
Jim was initiated into Ogallala, Nebraska Lodge # 1760 in 1966, served on and chaired a number of committees and was elected Exalted Ruler in 1977. He was a member of three Nebraska State Championship Ritual Teams, was All-State Inner Guard and Exalted Ruler and All-American Inner Guard. He served as Lodge Trustee for five years, Lodge Treasurer for seven years, Presiding Justice of the Subordinate Forum for a number of years and was elected to Honorary Life Membership in 1989. Jim is proud that his father, Michael J. McQuillan, is a Charter Member of Ord, Nebraska Lodge #2371, and his three sons and two sons-in-law who are Members of the Order of Elks. Two of his sons are Officers of the Ogallala Lodge, one being the immediate PER and the other being the Esteemed Leading Knight. Jim was the Nebraska Elks Association Laws Committee Chairman for twelve years, served as Third, Second, and First Vice-President and as President of the Association in 1988-1989. He is currently a member of the Nebraska Elks Association Advisory Committee. On the Grand Lodge level, Jim served as DDGER for the Western District of Nebraska in 1983-1984. He served on the Judiciary Committee of the Grand Lodge for eight years being its Chairman for two years. He is a regular member of the Grand Lodge Pardon Commission for two years and served as Chairman of that Commission for one year. He was a Justice of the Grand Forum for five years, serving as Chief Justice of the Grand Forum in 2002-2003. Jim and Karen are the proud grandparents of eleven granddaughters and three grandsons and are known to them as "Grandpa and Grandma Quillie." They are also happy to have as an extended family the many Elks they have been privileged to meet throughout the country and to look forward to a significant expansion of that extended family in the years ahead as they meet and work with other Members of the Order to show that "Elks Care--Elks Share."