These are the words I read at Dad's Celebration of Life, Feb. 24, 2018:
Mark Allen McKee was born April 10, 1954, at Alta Bates
Hospital in Berkley, Calif., to John and Betty McKee. The family lived in
Kirkland, Wash., where John worked as a flight engineer for Pan American
Airways. John flew internationally for work, and Betty stayed with her parents
in Berkley in the weeks before Mark was born.
He joined sister Pat, 9, brother John Jr., 7, and sister
Cynthia, 4.
After four years, a job transfer to San Francisco Airport
moved the family to Alamo, Calif.
Dad had fond memories of summers with his grandparents,
Fred and Helen Fellow, in nearby Berkley. Fishing with Grandpa and watching
baseball on TV with Grandma were favorite activities. Dad loved to travel on
his father’s flights, flying around the world on 747s. He spoke fondly of the
attention from the flight attendants – and all the free ginger ale!
Meantime, Dad’s family moved to Villa Park, Calif., near Disneyland.
Dad worked at the Happiest Place on Earth during breaks from college, cleaning
the park in the overnight hours.
He said they never turned off the music in the Enchanted
Tiki Room, one of his cleaning assignments. For many years, he wouldn’t step foot
into that attraction!
Dad enjoyed pranking. During his sophomore year, Dad, Meyer
Louie, and others, spent a night checking for unlocked cars in the Pennington
dorm parking lot.
They rolled nine cars down the fire lane and into the
canyon. Police arrived and thought it was a good prank. The guys were told to
stop and there would be no repercussions unless someone complained. But one car
owner “whined to his father”, who called GFC to complain. Dad and the others
were suspended for the remainder of the week: midterms!
They had to leave campus, but home was too far to travel.
The parents of friend Jeff Rickey took pity on the boys, insisting that they stay at their
house. They all ate pork chops for dinner, stretching it enough for everyone to
have their fill.
During his junior year, a Newberg girl, Kati Fantz,
started hanging around campus to see her friends. Mom was visiting in the Pennington
dorm lobby when Dad came through after tennis class. As the group chatted, Dad
mentioned his father’s Porsche, piquing Mom’s interest. Mom, still a senior in
high school, looked older, and Dad thought she was a college student.
Later that week, a mutual friend told Mom that Dad was
interested in going out. She also told Dad that Mom was interested in going
out, though neither had actually said that! The two went bowling in
McMinnville, and they were inseparable from that point on!
Mom graduated early from Newberg High and began attending
GFC in spring 1975. The couple got engaged shortly after and was married that
summer – about 10 months after meeting. Dad wore a powder-blue tuxedo with ruffled
shirt, the height of ‘70s fashion!
Their first daughter, Elizabeth Ruth, was born the
following June, and Dad took a variety of jobs to provide for his young family.
Their second daughter, Eryn Lynn, was born two years later in May, 1978.
Dad was doing custodial maintenance when a job opened in
the Tigard school district. Dad worked as the head night custodian at Mary
Woodward Elementary School for many years while Mom returned to school to
become a teacher. Dad was home during the day with the girls, preparing lunches
and fixing ponytails, and Mom was home in the evenings. Dad loved working with the
school children at Mary Woodward, including playing with the chess club.
The family took many trips to Disneyland to visit Dad’s
parents, starting a lifelong love of Mickey Mouse for his girls.
Many special occasions, including birthdays and
anniversaries, were spent at Disneyland. Summers also included lots of camping
trips and church- and city-league softball.
Wanting to get away from working nights, Dad began a
30-year career in warehouse/distribution. His last assignment was 10+ years at
Medical Teams International, where he was so proud to be shipping medical
equipment to those in need around the world.
Dad retired when MTI went through reorganization,
allowing time for him to care for his elderly parents who had moved to
Friendsview Retirement Community in Newberg. He was happy to connect with his
father after a distant childhood.
Dad loved watching sports, especially his beloved San
Francisco Giants and 49ers. He and Mom had a goal of visiting every Major
League Baseball stadium and frequently traveled with their daughters on summer
baseball trips. They only missed a few cities.
Dad had a propensity for numbers and puzzles, and he
collected jigsaw puzzles from his world travels. (ERYN got those puzzle genes –
I did not!) He enjoyed Sudoku and frequently impressed his daughters by doing
math in his head. He also loved playing games, usually beating everyone else in
the family.
Growing up flying around the world, Dad loved traveling,
especially air travel. And it wasn’t just about the destination but also the journey.
Dad would purposely choose flights with multiple stops – to save a buck but
also so he could get more takeoffs and landings.
Sometimes he would meet the family after taking several
flights around the country while the family flew straight there. He collected
Pan Am memorabilia and could name plane models as they flew overhead.
Dad loved eating, especially sweets: chocolate, cookies,
black licorice ice cream, milkshakes, root beer floats, angel food cake. But he
wasn’t very adventurous, often ordering his standards: cheese-and-onion
enchiladas (double rice, no beans) or ham-and-cheese omelets (with hashbrowns
and English muffin).
He didn’t like most vegetables – especially tomatoes! His
drink of choice was brewed iced tea (not sweet tea) or orange juice.
Dad enjoyed shopping and gift-giving. It was all about
making other people happy. Holidays were special, as he loved the decorations,
traditions, music, and happy times. He humored his daughters every year by
getting up at 4 a.m. for Black Friday shopping.
The day always included Christmas tree headbands and a
top-of-the-lungs Bing Crosby singalong in the car.
Dad was handy and mechanical, always taking on projects
around the house, yard, and garage.
When Dad and Mom built their home in Tigard, he installed
all the plumbing and electrical systems himself. In recent years, they bought a duplex
in Newberg, and Dad managed the income property. He loved working with his
hands and enjoyed using his gifts to assist friends, family, and co-workers.
This extended to our Tigard High School family. Dad was a familiar face at
Tigard High, assisting Eryn in the library, fixing things in my alternative-ed
kitchen, and helping Mom with classroom and band projects...
...from repairing instruments to building props to moving
equipment to driving the truck to helping students with rides home. His help
was invaluable.
He just liked helping people. If anyone needed a hand,
Dad was there.
Above all, Dad loved his family. He would do anything for
Mom and his girls.
His favorite times were spent playing cards, watching
movies, traveling to Disneyland, quoting National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,
hiking and biking, and just being with family.
That included his four-legged family. Dad was a
super-softy when it came to his kitties.
Mark died Feb. 12, 2018, at age 63.
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