Harold McWilliams

HAROLD EDGAR MCWILLIAMS West Des Moines Harold "Mac" McWilliams passed away on Feb. 7, 2015, at Trinity Center in Des Moines. He was born Dec. 22, 1925, to Vern and Velma McWilliams of Bloomfield, Iowa. Mac's school days were spent in Bloomfield. After graduating from high school in 1944, he attended Bloomfield Junior College, where he played basketball and met a member of the cheerleading squad, Helen Teall. They were married Jan. 19, 1948. Mac was a World War II veteran, who served in the U.S. Air Force as a tail gunner on a B-24 Liberator. After the war, he and Helen moved briefly to California, but returned to Iowa, settling in Osage, where they worked and raised their family. He spent most of his working life as an agent for Lutheran Brotherhood Insurance and then as vice president of lending with Home Trust Bank. Mac enthusiastically followed his kids' high school and college sports events and was an avid Hawkeye, CSU Rams, Vikings and St. Louis Cardinals fan. He was a member of Our Savior's Lutheran Church, where he sang in the choir, and belonged to Kiwanis Club and the American Legion. Always ready to help others, he drove for the Mitchell County ambulance service and for the Precisionnaires Drum and Bugle Corps. He volunteered for Habitat for Humanity, flood relief missions and the Mitchell County Food Bank. He loved doing crosswords and spending time with friends, family and pets. After retirement, Mac moved to Indianola, Iowa, where he lived with and was cared for by daughter, Marti Dowie, for several years. In addition to the Veterans Honor Flight trip to Washington, D.C., in 2011, a highlight of his senior years was a visit to Omaha Beach and the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France, where his brother, Charlie, died in World War II. Mac was preceded in death by his parents; his wife; his four brothers, Bob, Charlie, Dean and Don McWilliams; and two sisters, Virginia Swift and Evelyn Kinsinger. He will be greatly missed by his surviving children: Vicki Olson (Lamont) of Bonita Springs, Fla., Mary McWilliams of Cedar Rapids, Marti Dowie of West Des Moines and Paul McWilliams (Sara) of Loveland, Colo.; his granddaughters, Kristin Olson of Coralville and Melissa McWilliams of West Des Moines; and family friend, Amy Holecek of Cedar Rapids. A celebration of life and military burial service will take place at a later date, with interment at the St. Ansgar, Iowa, cemetery. Memorials in Harold's name may be directed to the Alzheimer's Association Greater Iowa Chapter or the Eastern Iowa Honor Flight, PO Box 10704, Cedar Rapids, IA 52410. Condolences may be sent in care of Marti Dowie, 1903 Elm St., West Des Moines, IA 50265.