Frieda Smithwick McKay

Mrs. Frieda Smithwick McKay entered this life on March 10, 1934, in Lancaster County, South Carolina, the daughter of Joel Alexander & Janie Marie Littlejohn Smithwick, both of whom preceded her in death. She passed from this life at her home in Bowie, Maryland, at 3:40 pm, Monday, January 12, 2004, after a battle with cancer.

She was a 1951 graduate of Chester High School and was a graduate of Mars Hill Junior College as well as Winthrop Teacher’s College in South Carolina. She received her Masters degree in Biology & English from the University of North Carolina and her Masters of Arts degree in Biology from Vanderbilt University/Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee.

She was united in marriage to Clair Albert McKay, on June 28, 1968, at the Foundry Methodist Church in Washington, DC and to this union arrived one daughter to bless their home.

Mrs. McKay was a junior high & high school educator having taught English, Biology, Geology & Chemistry in several different school systems from 1956 to 1973, in the South. Her hobby was music, and she was a gifted musician. She enjoyed playing the piano and had a gifted voice, singing Alto. She was a member of the United Parish of Bowie. She enjoyed participating in the Con Viva Musica Madrigal Group in Bowie. She was a devoted wife, mother & friend.

Frieda leaves to mourn her passing her loving husband: Clair Albert McKay of Bowie, Maryland; her loving daughter: Elizabeth Anne McKay & her husband: Brian Wolpin, MD of Boston, Massachusetts; her loving brothers: Myron Smithwick & his wife: Kathleen of Raleigh, NC; Walter Smithwick & his wife: Faye of Florence, SC; Jim Smithwick & his wife: Louise of Columbia, SC; her loving sisters: Marie Parker & her husband: Roy of Fayetteville, NC; Jane Shohan & her husband: Herschel of Amhurst, Massachusetts; her father in law & mother in law: Frank & Anna K. McKay of Vevay, Indiana; several nieces, nephews & other relatives; She was preceded also in death by one infant daughter.