IN MEMORY OF
Photographers Mate
WILLIAM JOHN McKEAN “Mac”
Born April 11, 1920,
Deceased May 8, 2012
Service Dates
Unknown
Loving husband, father and grandfather passed away peacefully on Tuesday, May 8, 2012, of Silver Spring, MD. He was born on April 11, 1920 to John Thornton and Agnes Lappin McKean, and was raised in Washington, D.C. Following graduation from Gonzaga College High School in 1938, Mac joined the Navy and served as a Photographic Specialist for the Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT) which was an elite special-purpose force established by US Navy during WWII. They were the precursor to the present-day US Navy SEALs.
After the war, he worked for the Department of Commerce at the National Bureau of Standards until his retirement in 1976. Mac was married for 56 years to Marie Klunk McKean until her death on May 8, 2002. They had two sons who survived them, Thomas Patrick McKean and his wife Karen of Gordonsville, VA and John Edward McKean and his wife Liz of Seattle, WA. He is also survived by his granddaughters Sara McKean Wilson and her husband Michael of Glen Allen, VA and Emily Jane McKean of Falls Church, VA. Mac was fortunate enough to find love again and remarried the next year to Mary Straub, who survives him in Silver Spring, MD, along with her sons and their wives, John and Mary Straub, and Bill and Diane Straub, and their daughter Amanda.
Mac loved life and had a special way of making everyone he met happy they knew him. In addition to the memorable times he spent with his family, Mac enjoyed a great camaraderie with his duckpin bowling team buddies, golf partners, and ham radio operator aficionados.