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MEMORIAL ARTICLE
Published Assembly Mar '95
William Irving McKay No.16072 Class of 1946
Died 20 September 1992 in Fresno, California, aged 68 years.
Interment: Chapel of the Light Mausoleum, Fresno, CA.
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Born 27 November 1923 in Vicksburg, Mississippi,
William Irving McKay was known to is classmates as Mac but to
his family and associates as Irv. His father was a lawyer. His
mother, Mary, was renowned in that part of Mississippi as the
owner of the Old Southern Tea Room in Vicksburg. She had the
good fortune to serve Duncan Hines and his wife enroute to the
Natchez Pilgrimage. He listed her tea room in his book as one
of the best eateries in the country, and success was instantaneous.
Irv graduated from Carr Central High School in Vicksburg. Golf,
swimming and tennis were his favorite sports. He attended the
University of Mississippi. Classmate Max Feibelman, also from
Vicksburg, remembers taking the train with Irv to West Point.
Enroute, they planned to get together for lunch one day after
getting settled. Little did they know.
Cadet life was made bearable by Irv's great sense
of humor. He was proud of membership in the Cadet Choir so he
could take trips to get away from West Point. He chose to become
an air cadet when the opportunity presented itself and graduated
a second lieutenant pilot in the then Army Air Corps.
After multi-engine transition training in Enid,
Oklahoma, Irv was assigned to the 509th Bomb Group in Roswell,
New Mexico along with several classmates. He flew the B-29 and
the 509th had Silverplate planes--so named because they had been
modified to carry the Atomic Bomb. In September 1947, Irv attended
a three and a half month course at the Air Tactical School, Tyndall
Air Force Base, Florida. He married Roseann Robertson in Vicksburg
on 8 November 1947 with many of his classmates in attendance.
After returning to Roswell, Irv and his B-29 classmates were
selected to become weaponeers and proceeded to Sandia Base, Albuquerque,
New Mexico for a six week course. In March of l950, Irv decided
to leave the Air Force to try his hand at civilian life.
He joined Anderson Clayton and Company in Vicksburg
as a cotton buyer and was to stay with that firm for 35 years.
In 1952, the McKays moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, where Irv
became assistant manager of the cotton department. Next, came
Los Angeles, where Irv became assistant manager of the western
merchandising division. In l963, he opened a new cotton merchandising
department in Fresno, California and was named general manager.
Back to Vicksburg in 1967, Irv became district manager, Mississippi
Mills. Two years later, Irv was named vice president, western
operations, in Phoenix, Arizona. The next stop for the McKays
was Belmond, Iowa, where Irv became general manager of Anderson
Clayton Seed. In 1974, he became president, Anderson Clayton
Seed Division. Irv and Roseann returned to Fresno in 1977 and
Irv became general manager of California and Arizona Cotton Merchandising.
Irv retired from Anderson Clayton in 1985 and opened his own
cotton brokerage, "The McKay Cotton Company." He was
president and director of the Western Cotton Shippers Association,
Fresno Cotton Exchange and a director of the US Feed Grain Council.
William Irving McKay died 20 September1992 after
a long bout with cancer. He is survived by his wife, Roseann;
two daughters, Melanie and Ann; one son, Wayne; and five grandchildren.
Irv carried the principles he nurtured at West
Point into civilian life. He gained the respect and admiration
of his associates just as he did with his classmates. A fellow
executive of Anderson Clayton, William J. Reckling, remembered:
"I first knew Irv in 1963 when I replaced him in Los Angeles.
His new office in Fresno was a buying office and Los Angeles
was a selling office, so we were in daily contact. He was responsible
for establishing an entirely new way of handling the cotton our
farmer ginners wanted to sell. It was a difficult job, doing
things differently, centralizing and cutting a lot of people
out of previous responsibilities. Irv was perfect for the job;
he had the ability to get along with everyone, he was smart and
he knew the cotton business. People in the field were first antagonistic
until they discovered Irv could actually help them; then they
became his best friends. When I succeeded him a few years later,
all the hard work had been done, and the Fresno office was a
success, thanks to Irv's pioneering."
Two of his classmates remembered their friend.
Max Feibelman recalled: "Irving was a true southern gentleman
and had a wonderful sense of humor. His charm enabled him to
make friends easily. His family and friends loved him and he
deserves the highest respect from all who had the privilege of
knowing him."
Jim Carbine remembered: "Mac was a person
you could never forget. He was a real gentleman in all his actions,
a real gentle and honest person. His classmates who knew him
well remember him as one great guy and a true friend."
To that, his family, friends and classmates can
only add, "Well Done Irv: Be Thou at Peace!"
'46 Memorial Article Project and his wife, Roseann
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