Oliver Wendell "Mac" McNally

Surrounded by his loving family in his home in Pleasant Township, Franklin County, Ohio, Mac went home to the loving arms of his Lord and savior Jesus, the Christ at 5:12 pm on December 18, 2024.

Born over a century ago on August 3, 1923 on the family farm in Morgan County, Ohio to Charles Everett McNally (1894 - 1985) and Lelia May Price (1896 - 1986), Mac grew up milking cows, tending the farm, and due to the hard times remained shoeless until his teenage years, walking barefoot all year round.

Mac was very proud of his military service in World War II entering active service in the US Army on November 19, 1943 as a Sergeant in the 279th Engineer Combat Battalion. He served as a construction foreman with the 133rd Engineer Regiment in the European Theater of Operations. He supervised 20 men in bridge construction. He served in Germany, France and Belgium, and was in the Battle of the Bulge.

After the war Mac attended Franklin University in Columbus, Ohio where he received his degree in Electronics. After graduation he landed a summer job as an engineer with WLWT television in Cincinnati, Ohio. From there he moved back to Columbus taking a job with WELD-FM radio until the Wolf brothers could finish building the WBNS-TV studio on Twin-Rivers Drive. He was one of their first television engineers when they signed on the air for the very first time on October 15, 1949, a job which he proudly kept for 39 years until he was forced to take mandatory retirement at the age of 65.

On September 2, 1951 he married Evelyn Catherine Stewart in Columbus, Ohio, a union that survived 64 years this side of heaven till her death in 2015. To this union were born two sons, Charles Stewart “Chuck” McNally who died of Leukemia at the age of twenty-two months in March of 1955, and David Wendell “Dave” McNally.

Mac is survived by his sister Emma “June” Rummell (McNally) of Gardenia, California; son David and his wife Amy (King); granddaughter Kristin Rene McNally; two great-granddaughters Ayla Marie Wolf and Erica Kathryn Wolf; and many nieces and nephews.

In addition to his parents, wife, and son he was preceded in death by his brothers and sisters: Everett William McNally (1918 - 1997), Virginia May (McNally) Noland (1919 - 2020), Evelyn Hope (McNally) McGrath (1921 - 1998), James Price McNally (1924 - 2008), and Lucy Marie (McNally) Rummell (1929 - 2002).

Family will receive friends from 9:30-11 AM Tuesday, December 24, 2024 at Schoedinger Funeral Home 1740 Zollinger Road in Upper Arlington, with service beginning at 11 AM. Interment will be at Union Cemetery immediately following.

The family would like to express our gratitude for the love and support we received from the staff of the National Church Residences Hospice. Their kindness in our time of need was a true blessing.