Monday, February 27, 2017
The McKinley family moved to Scholfield Road in West Irondequoit during the huge home-building boom following World War II. Herb and his brother David quickly became adapted to the local culture. They attended Hosea Rogers Elementary School.
Mother Betty became a Cub Scout den mother. We met in their basement weekly for at least a year. David, though younger, participated in activities as well. When allowed, we graduated into Boy Scout Troop 96 where Herb became the best diver on the swim team.
We attended gymnastics classes together at the Turnverein on Clinton Avenue, where Herb excelled at rope climbing and all the other gymnastic routines.
Our class became the first to move all the way through West Irondequoit High School from seventh (or was it sixth?) grade to graduating seniors. Herb became the first in our group to drive; he had a 1940s-something green Ford sedan. For all I know, it was the family car, but it made him the most popular guy in the group. At some point, Herb and his future wife Mary became high school sweethearts.
Our chemistry teacher, John Dodge, invited some of his students who were also Boy Scouts on a camping trip in the Adirondak Mountains. One memory from that trip still stands out; late in the hiking day, we faced climbing up a long, muddy, near-vertical slope. While the rest of us struggled with exhaustion and footing, Herb scampered up like a mountain goat. That was so demoralizing to us normal humans.
Upon graduating from high school, Herb and I became freshman roommates at Clarkson (now) University. Herb worked hard at and excelled in his engineering studies, later graduating as a Mechanical Engineer. We joined different fraternities as sophomores, and I changed majors, so I saw little of Herb after that. My wife Sue and I did enjoy meeting him again at our IHS 40th class reunion, however.
Herb set a high bar for integrity, hard work, and dedication to excellence, so I'm sure he will be sorely missed by his wife Mary, brother David, children, grandchildren and all of his extended family. Sue and I extend our deepest sympathies to the family, especially wife Mary and brother David.
