John Davis McConnico III

John Davis McConnico, III, loyal husband, devoted father and grandfather, beloved uncle, avid outdoorsman, adventure sailor, skilled photographer, raconteur and consummate Great Debater, passed away on April 15, 2025 at the ripe old age of 93 in Lively, VA.
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, John was the son of John (Jack) Davis McConnico, Jr. and Pauline (Polly) Hilton McConnico. As a young boy, John moved with his parents, older sister Nancy, and younger brother Joe (Hilton) to Jasper, Alabama.
John began his collegiate studies at Washington and Lee University, where he pledged Sigma Nu fraternity and perfected his partying and card-playing talents with fellow students until all hours of the morning.
After several years in Alabama, the McConnico family returned to Memphis, but John took a detour via Korea. The war was a truly harrowing experience, an education of a very different sort. John was an expert marksman and served as an Army Staff Sergeant and highly skilled sniper. Of his many heart-breaking and terrifying experiences, the most memorable was his participation in the Battle of Marilyn Monroe Hill. There were 55 men in his platoon holding an important strategic ridge against 800 Chinese and North Koreans. The situation looked virtually hopeless, but John and the men endured, though only 13 survived. In fact, John's bunker took a direct hit that literally blew his Browning automatic rifle into three parts. He continued fighting with his 45-caliber pistol. Miraculously, he walked away from the battlefield victorious – and earned a Combat Infantry Badge and a Bronze Star.
Following his stint in the Army, John moved back to Memphis and graduated from Southwestern (now Rhodes College) with a degree in psychology. His first job after college was in the photography department at Sears Roebuck & Co. He had a genuine talent for photography, which became a lifelong interest. Later, he became a major stockholder in Nasco, Inc., and served as the company's Vice President of Retail Sales and Marketing.
Meanwhile, John married and had two children: Davis and Mary Mann. Sailing became a family passion and eventually grew from a hobby to a career change. John built a house on Old Hickory Lake near Nashville, so he could join the local yacht club and sail every week. He then bought his first ocean-going sailboat. Next, he joined the New York Yacht Club. Then he started his grander adventures in sailing, which included exciting trips to Bermuda, New Zealand and onto Antarctica. John was never bored when he was at sea.
John's seemingly insatiable appetite for sailing continued to grow. He took early retirement from Nasco, and moved with his second wife Carole Jean to Lively, Virginia, on the Chesapeake Bay. They bought the nearby Yankee Point Marina and Boat Yard, which they operated for 14 years, winning the "Best of the Bay" Award for 13 years. During this time, John also made innumerable trips for his customers, delivering sailboats to and from the Caribbean Islands and other destinations.
Tragically, John's daughter Mary Mann, a hospice nurse, just 38 years old, was killed in a car accident en route to see a patient. John turned this tragic experience into a decades-long commitment to supporting hospice by establishing the annual Turkey Shoot Regatta, a race that has raised more than $400,000 and continues to this day.
For several decades, John enjoyed having breakfast once a week with his good friends, where they discussed current events, economics and politics in a highly opinionated and somewhat inflexible manner. He was an avid reader. He loved living near the water and stayed physically active and fit-as-a-fiddle until the end. Additionally, he was especially proud of his Tennessee roots and attended his annual family reunion, the Taylors of Tabernacle Camp Meeting, which has been held near Brownsville, Tennessee, since 1826.
John leaves behind his wife of 40 years Carole Jean McConnico; son John Davis McConnico, IV (Christy); five grandchildren: Autumn McConnico, John (Jack) Davis McConnico, V, Benjamin McConnico, Robert Taylor Anders (Edvina), Davis Anders (Lindsey), and two great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 2:00 pm on Saturday, April 26, 2025 at Currie Funeral Home in Kilmarnock, VA. Family will receive friends one hour prior to the service. There will be a private interment in the family cemetery at the Tabernacle Campground in Brownsville, TN at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations and memorials may be made to Hospice Support Service of Northern Neck, Inc., 28 St. John's Street, Warsaw, VA 22572; or to the Taylors of Tabernacle Campground Foundation, 770 Ross Road, Brownsville, TN, 38012.