Kenneth Daniels "Sparky" McGrew

KENNETH "SPARKY" DANIELS MCGREW
May 24, 1949 September 14, 2023

Kenneth Sparky" Daniels McGrew, age 74, passed away Sept. 14, 2023. He was born May 24, 1949, in Vancouver, WA, to Robert and Maxine McGrew.
Sparky grew up in Vancouver and lived a childhood full of adventures and good times with his brother Robert "Corky", and sisters, Pearl and Alice, at their home at the foot of Camp Bonneville in Clark County. In his childhood, Sparky developed a love for adventure, hard work, and sports. He graduated from Evergreen High School in 1968. While attending Evergreen, he participated in football, wrestling, and baseball. After high school he attended Olympic Junior College in Bremerton, WA, where he played football as a placekicker and offensive lineman. After Olympic College, he attended Oregon State University for two years and played football as a placekicker for coach "Dee" Andros. Following his football career, he embarked on a long career in underground utilities construction.
Sparky began his 50+ year construction career working for his father's company, Robert R. McGrew Inc. He also had tenures at Copenhagen Utilities, Moore Excavation, and ended his career with Nutter Corporation in 2014. Throughout the years in the underground utilities construction industry, he wore many hats from laborer, foreman, and occasionally a "shaky" equipment operator. In his mid-20s he met his wife of 47+ years, Becki (Rightmire), and after a brief six-month courtship, were married in December of 1975. They had two sons, Ben and Bryce. Sparky always added an element of fun while raising them. When he was not working, he enjoyed golfing at Orchard Hills Golf Club where he was a member for nearly 50 years. He had a deep passion for Oregon State athletics, was a season ticket holder for football games for 48 years and missed only a handful of games. His fandom took him to the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, AZ, the Baseball College World Series in Omaha, NE, and countless trips to Arizona for early-season baseball games. He enjoyed coaching his sons, Ben and Bryce, in football, basketball, and baseball (never soccer!). He was also a longtime member of Columbia Presbyterian Church.
Sparky will be remembered for his warmhearted smile, wry sense of humor, his love of family and friends, all things Oregon State, making a good warm fire in his wood stove inside during the winter and a great fire pit outside. He was known for leaving golf putts a little short, loved clam digging, and growing dahlias and tomatoes. He also loved cutting, splitting, and selling firewood with his brother, Corky, thus a couple of missing fingers in the process.
Sparky will be missed by his wife, Becki; his children, Ben (Mady) McGrew and Bryce (Alison) McGrew; his three grandchildren, Marli and Bo (Ben) and Scotlyn (Bryce); his siblings, Pearl Agard, Corky McGrew (Katharina), and Alice McGrew; numerous nieces and nephews; and his brother-in-law, Pete; and sisters-in-law, Debbie and Kathleen. He was preceded in death by his parents, Robert and Maxine; brothers-in-law, Dick Rightmire and Robbie Agard.
Sparky's celebration of life will be Sunday, Oct. 22, at 3 p.m. at Columbia Presbyterian Church, 805 Columbia Ridge Dr., Vancouver, WA 98664. Please wear orange and black in celebration of his love for the Oregon State Beavers.
Please consider donating online to the Football Fund for Excellence at Oregon State University in memory of Ken "Sparky" McGrew https://give.fororegonstate.org/ or mail donation to OSU Foundation, 4238 SW Research Way, Corvallis, OR 97333. Indicate in memo line: FFE and Sparky's name.
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