JOHN NORMAN McCARTHY passed away on Friday March 24, 2017 in Westlake, Ohio. John was born in Cleveland, Ohio on August 11, 1925. Son of the late Kate (nee Lyons) and Michael McCarthy; brother of Dr. Thomas McCarthy (Jeri) of Wisconsin, Robert (deceased) (Eileen), Donald (Dorothy) (both deceased), George (deceased) (Kay); long-time friend of Eileen Drusendahl.
For more than five decades, John Norman McCarthy assumed the role of “Uncle Norm” with unflagging generosity to his 16 nieces and nephews, XX grand-nieces and grand-nephews. He took them to many Cleveland sporting events and broadened their cultural horizons by springing for tickets to see the Cleveland Ballet perform ‘The Nutcracker’ or to hear Tony Bennett sing “I Left My Heart in San Francisco. With simple point-and-shoot cameras, he was the faithful family historian of countless baptisms, first communions, graduations, family reunions and weddings. He helped pay for their college educations and remembered their birthdays with a card or phone call.
It was a generosity rooted in the hard times of the Great Depression, when his father, Michael, was placed on a police disability pension and his mother, Catherine, took a night job as a cleaning lady for the Cleveland school system. John and his brothers chipped in with earnings from their paper routes in the neighborhoods bounded by West 65th and Madison Avenue. John also remembered the love and assistance given freely by his aunts, uncles, cousins and neighbors during those difficult years.
To defray the yearly $100 tuition expense at St. Ignatius High School, he washed blackboards after school. Decades later he still remembered the feel of chalk dust on his hands. Upon graduation he joined the Navy during World War II. While in the service, in 1945, he received an appointment to enter the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
At West Point, he joined the Cadet Glee Club and played baseball as a pitcher. His three-year record was 16 wins against 4 losses and helped the Army team twice win the Eastern Collegian title. “My glory day was pitching nine innings against the Brooklyn Dodgers in an exhibition game,” he recalled. “I left in the 10th inning with the score tied 3-3.”
After graduating from West Point in 1949, John served his country with distinction in the post-World War II occupation of Japan and during the Korean War. Assigned to the 315th Air Division in Japan, the division evacuated North Korean prisoners and wounded America soldiers from MASH units in Korea. John also served as aid General "Iron Mike" Michaelis who reported directly to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
John was awarded the Army Commendation Medal, the Bronze Star, Air Medals and Korean Service Medals, resigning from the Air Force as a Lt. Colonel to join the company that eventually became TRW.
He received a master’s degree in engineering from Case Institute of Technology in 1963 and held various positions during his 28 years with TRW until his retirement in 1986. Continuing to work as a consultant for another 15 years, he volunteered in many organizations, including the Northern Ohio section of The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and St. Colman’s Endowment Fund Committee. In 2007, he completed a two-year term as chairman of the St. Augustine Health Care campus.
Funeral Mass Saturday, April 1, at 10:00 A.M., St. Colman Church (2027 W. 65th St., Cleveland, OH 44102). Interment Holy Cross Cemetery. Friends may call at CHAMBERS FUNERAL HOME of NORTH OLMSTED, 29150 LORAIN RD. AT STEARNS RD., FRIDAY 2-4 AND 6-8 P.M. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made payable to "Kathleen J. Lamparyk Scholarship Fund" c/o Cleveland Central Catholic, 6550 Baxter Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44105.
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