John Wallace McCreight

John Wallace McCreight, 72, of East Washington, died Thursday, March 3, 2016, after battling a glioblastoma, a rare nerve cancer, on his spine.
He was born February 7, 1944, a son of the late John Borland and Jane Wallace McCreight.
Mr. McCreight he was married to Mildred Ann McAnulty McCreight, who died November 7, 1998.
He was a graduate 1962 of East Washington High School and College of Wooster in 1966. He attended Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and was a graduate of Duquesne University Law School.
Prior to practicing on his own, he was with the law firm McCreight, Marriner & Crumrine.
Mr. McCreight was actively involved in a number of personal and professional organizations, including Washington Bar Association, Wooster Alumni, Fortnightly, Rails to Trails, and Jefferson Township Historical Society. He was an active member of Church of the Covenant, where he was an ordained elder and a member of the choir.
He enjoyed volunteering, learning new things and meeting new friends.
Mr. McCreight had a passion for music that eventually led him to meet his wife, while playing the tuba. He spent many years and decades playing with various groups, including Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 47 Marching Band, Bentleyville Fireman's Band, Wind Ensemble at W&J, Ohio Valley Brass Ensemble and Pennsylvania State Veterans of Forein Wars Post 8543 Band. He played in and later coordinated the Tri-County Band Festival.
In his younger days, he hopped trains and traveled the country. He applied and trained for the Peace Corps in the state of California, where he met friends he would reconnect with when he traveled to Lesotho in 2011. Road trips with his family, and later on his own, took him off the beaten path and always to amazing new places. He loved spelunking and boating, and always looked for a state or national park where he could set up his tent along the way. His love of travel later took him to Asia, where strangers he met along the way became dear friends. He traveled extensively in China and Thailand.
He had a desire to help person and every animal he met along the way, and came up with unique ideas to accomplish that. He worked with researchers at Tuskegee University to perfect plans for the Korat Kube, Thai yams grown in cubes. Even in the last few weeks of his life, his thoughtfulness was not diminished.
Surviving are a son, John M. McCreight and daughter-in-law Karin Barend-McCreight of San Jose, Calif.; a daughter, Amanda Rose McCreight and son-in-law Jason Tai, and a grandchild on the way, of Austin, Texas; sisters Rebecca M. (John R.) Wharton and Nancy A. McCreight, both of Washington; mother-in-law Alice McAnulty; and a close extended family of siblings-in-law, nieces, nephews, cousins and an aunt.
Friends will be received from noon to 3 and 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday and 1 to 3 and 6 to 8 p.m. Monday in Piatt and Barnhill Funeral Home, 420 Locust Avenue. Additional visitation will be held from 10 to 11 a.m., the time of service, Tuesday, March 8, in Church of the Covenant, 267 East Beau Street, Washington, PA 15301. Interment will follow in Washington Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be made to Church of the Covenant, www.churchofthecov.org/or, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Voluntary Service (118V-A), 1010 Delafield Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15215, www.pittsburgh.va.gov, or a charity of one's choice.
Condolences may be expressed at www.piattbarnhill.com Piatt and Barnhill Funeral Directors Inc., Charles R. Piatt, owner/supervisor, and Lawrence K. Donovan, director.