McComb teacher was WW II vet

3/31/2005

McCOMB, Ohio - Robert McVey, who taught algebra and geometry for many years at McComb High School, died Saturday in the Heritage nursing home, Findlay. He was 87.

He was been treated for respiratory difficulties, but family members did not know his exact cause of death.

Mr. McVey began teaching at McComb High School in the early 1940s but interrupted his career when he entered the Army Air Corps during World War II. While stationed in the Philippines, he put his math skills to work completing calculations for weather forecasts used by combat pilots, Lisa Mansfield, his granddaughter, said.

After his discharge, Mr. McVey returned to McComb to teach industrial arts before he secured a position teaching math at the school, said David K. White, a retired vocational agriculture education teacher.

"Every student I have ever known highly respected him as a math teacher," Mr. White said.

He was a very deliberate teacher, his granddaughter said. "His technique was to show students what was going on with a math problem, and be there if they had any questions."

Mr. McVey also tutored students, sometimes making house calls if students requested it. Besides teaching, Mr. McVey was an assistant football coach and kept statistics for the high school basketball team.

Retiring from teaching in 1982 after 36 years, he worked for McComb Lumber Co. until four years ago.

At the lumber yard, Mr. McVey read blueprints and calculated the cost of lumber needed for an assortment of building projects.

Mr. McVey was active at the Pleasant View United Methodist Church, where he was a lay leader and Sunday school teacher. He also served as a delegate to the West Ohio Conference of Methodist Churches at Lakeside, Ohio. He was a scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 335.

Mr. McVey was a member of the McComb Lions Club and once was honored as its Man of the Year. He served on the McComb Public Library Board.

Born in Lancaster, Ohio, Mr. McVey graduated in 1936 from the former Mount Cory High School. He received a bachelor's degree in education from Bowling Green State University in 1941.

His wife, Mary, died in 2002.

Surviving are his sisters, Dorothy May Warren and Betty Jean Pribich; two grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter.

Services will be at 10:30 a.m. today at the Hartley Funeral Home, McComb. The family suggests tributes to Pleasant View United Methodist Church or Bridge Home Health & Hospice.