Sam McClain came to Alaska in the late 1940s. He worked as an architect for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Anchorage from 1949 until his retirement in 1979. In 1950, he married Christine Ferrari Reeder, who worked for the Army Signal Corps until 1971. Both McClains had many interests outside of their Army jobs. Christine was a prolific freelance writer and the features editor for the Anchorage Times; and Sam was an accomplished artist, specializing in pen and ink drawings and watercolors. At some point, Bruce Kendall, an Anchorage hotel owner, purchased two of McClain’s watercolors, which were of Russian churches. Realizing how rapidly the old churches were disappearing from the landscape, Kendall commissioned McClain to embark upon a project to paint all of Alaska’s Russian churches and chapels for which photographs, drawings, or other likenesses could be found. Sam McClain became best known for his drawings and watercolors of these churches and other historical Alaska buildings. When Fern Wallace published The Flame of the Candle: a pictorial history of Russian Orthodox churches in Alaska, Sam McClain contributed many drawings and also designed the cover. McClain also taught art classes and performed volunteer work for the Anchorage School District and other local organizations. He died in Anchorage in 1994, five years after the death of his wife Christine.