James Hughes McKay

James H. McKay of Easton, MD, son of the late James H. and LaRue Reynard McKay, died at his home on Sunday, November 30, 2003 after a lengthy illness. He was 76. Born in Baltimore, he graduated from Charlotte Hall Military Academy in Southern Maryland in 1944 and then enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force, serving in the Philippines until the close of World War II. The G.I Bill enabled him to enroll in the Johns Hopkins University’s night school where he earned his BA degree in 1952. In 1955 he married the former Mary Patricia Maxwell and they settled in the Rodgers Forge Community in Baltimore County. While working in construction, he returned to Johns Hopkins where he obtained his PhD in environmental engineering in 1967. Shortly thereafterm he began his twenty year career with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, where among other projects, he worked on the design and development of the hydraulic model of the Chesapeake Bay. Located on Kent Island, the nine-acre to scale working model of the bay and its tributaries drew school children and visitors from around the world, including Russian scientists and members of the British Royal Family. Later in his career, he was placed in charge of all reservoirs in the Baltimore District, an area that encompassed all the Corps’ dams from Maryland to New York. He was officially commended for his work in insuring their high state of readiness, as well as for his responsiveness to employee concerns and his highly motivated work force. Dr. McKay and his wife moved to the Eastern Shore of Maryland in 1983 and he retired in 1987. In addition to his wife, Dr. McKay is survived by three children, Penny M. Kelley, Carol M. Barth and her husband Michael, and James H. McKay, III; three grandsons, Christopher Kelley, Matthew Kelley and Michael J. Barth; and a sister, Cathryn M. Sutley and her children and grandchildren. Friends are invited to visit with the family on Friday, December 5, 2003 from 10:30 AM to 12:00 noon at Fellows, Helfenbein & Newnam Funeral Home, P.A., Easton, MD. Interment will be private. Memorial donations may be made to the Talbot Hospice Foundation, 586 Cynwood Dr., Easton, MD 21601 or the American Diabetes Association, 1701 N. Beauregard St., Alexandria, VA 22311.