Wendell MCKEE

Wendell C. McKee passed away Sunday, August 25, 2002 in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. He had been in declining health the past two years and suffered a severe stroke Saturday morning, August 17. Mr. McKee has been a resident of Prestige Assisted Living for the past nine months, and a resident of Lake Havasu City for the past 25 years. He was 86 years old.Wendell was born near Fredricktown, Ohio in 1916 and was a graduate of Fredricktown High School. After graduation from Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, he was a high school athletics coach and teacher at West Lafayette, Ohio. Wendell was instrumental in expanding and developing strong athletic programs that were well supported by students and community and highly respected throughout the state.As a young man, Wendell McKee was a well-known champion softball pitcher in central Ohio. In the early 1940's, the Zone Cabs of Mt. Vernon, with Wendell's exceptionally fast and controlled pitching, beat a team whose pitcher, Smittie Truss, was touted as the best in eastern U.S. Wendell also pitched softball for an Elks team in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, where he was initiated into the order; he remained a member of the BPOE Elks for 65 years, and was a member of the Lake Havasu City Elks Lodge at the time of his passing.WWII interrupted his chosen career, and Wendell served his country as the skipper of a U.S. Navy Patrol-Torpedo (PT) boat which saw combat in the liberation of the Philippines. He returned to his beloved coaching and teaching at the end of the war.Once again his career was interrupted, this time by the Korean War. Recalled to duty as Executive Officer of the destroyer USS Mansfield, his ship was engaged in heavy, close-in live-fire in the invasion of Inchon. During a later rescue mission, the ship was almost lost when struck by a powerful floating mine. His other assignments included naval intelligence and the command of Naval Reserve Training Centers; LCDR McKee retired in 1968.Wendell McKee is survived by his wife of 65 years, Mildred, who resides in Lake Havasu City, and three children, Marilyn Robertson of Fullerton, California, Stephen McKee of Phoenix, Wally Baker of Woodland Hills, California, and one brother, Merrill McKee of Fredricktown, Ohio, eight grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren.Services will be conducted Thursday, August 29, 2002 at the Lietz-Fraze Funeral Home, 21 Riviera Blvd., Lake Havasu City, Arizona. Visitation is from 9:00 to 10:00 AM and services will commence at 10:00 AM. Interment will be in Lake Havasu Memorial Gardens, Lake Havasu City, Arizona.Arrangements were made by Lietz-Fraze Funeral Home.