William H.H. McNarney, 66, died Monday.
Mr. McNarney was born Aug. 26, 1939 in Des Moines to Margaret F. (Tiernan) McNarney and Frank T. McNarney Jr. A 1957 graduate of Dowling High School, he served in the U.S. Air Force as an electronics technician from 1960 to 1964 at bases in Mississippi, Texas, and Colorado.
A beneficiary of the G.I. Bill, he graduated from Iowa State University in 1967 with a degree in landscape architecture and an emphasis in urban planning. It was at the Iowa State Memorial Union at the Trophy Tavern where he went on a blind date with Mary Catherine Brenneman, an undergraduate whom he would marry April 20, 1968 in her hometown of Marion.
Mr. McNarney worked most of his life in the public service, first as a planner for the state of Nebraska Department of Economic Development and then for Iowa's Office of Planning and Programming. In 1975, Gov. Robert D. Ray appointed him the first executive director of the Iowa Housing Finance Authority, created to help provide affordable housing to low-income Iowans. The authority's conference room is named for him.
Mr. McNarney later worked as director of community investment for the Federal Home Loan Bank in Des Moines and finally, beginning in 1990, as director of the Iowa field office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Mr. McNarney retired from HUD in 2004 to embark full-time on his career as an artist, an avocation he pursued since he was a boy. He was a prolific artist, creating hundreds of pen-and-ink and watercolor works. In 1993, 14 of his drawings of the Iowa State Fairgrounds where he learned to drive and where he went on his first date were used by the fair's Blue Ribbon Foundation to raise money for restoration of the fair's buildings.
Mr. McNarney also played the guitar and piano and was also a composer of verse including a book of limericks, one for each town in Iowa.
Mr. McNarney is survived by his wife Mary Kay, two sons, and their families: Christopher and Karen McNarney and grandchildren Ava and Bennett, all of West Bend, Wisconsin, and Michael McNarney and Lauren Roth of Norfolk, Virginia.
In lieu of flowers, Mr. McNarney had asked that donations be made to the Clive Greenbelt Trail, which he credited with extending his life by giving him a place to bike, walk and run. Donations should be made to the family, which will convey the donations to the city of Clive.
A funeral Mass will be held 10 a.m. Friday at the Basilica of St. John with burial following at Beaver Catholic Cemetery in rural Granger. The family will receive friends from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday with a 7 p.m. Vigil service at Iles Funeral Home Westover Chapel.
Mr. McNarney was born Aug. 26, 1939 in Des Moines to Margaret F. (Tiernan) McNarney and Frank T. McNarney Jr. A 1957 graduate of Dowling High School, he served in the U.S. Air Force as an electronics technician from 1960 to 1964 at bases in Mississippi, Texas, and Colorado.
A beneficiary of the G.I. Bill, he graduated from Iowa State University in 1967 with a degree in landscape architecture and an emphasis in urban planning. It was at the Iowa State Memorial Union at the Trophy Tavern where he went on a blind date with Mary Catherine Brenneman, an undergraduate whom he would marry April 20, 1968 in her hometown of Marion.
Mr. McNarney worked most of his life in the public service, first as a planner for the state of Nebraska Department of Economic Development and then for Iowa's Office of Planning and Programming. In 1975, Gov. Robert D. Ray appointed him the first executive director of the Iowa Housing Finance Authority, created to help provide affordable housing to low-income Iowans. The authority's conference room is named for him.
Mr. McNarney later worked as director of community investment for the Federal Home Loan Bank in Des Moines and finally, beginning in 1990, as director of the Iowa field office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Mr. McNarney retired from HUD in 2004 to embark full-time on his career as an artist, an avocation he pursued since he was a boy. He was a prolific artist, creating hundreds of pen-and-ink and watercolor works. In 1993, 14 of his drawings of the Iowa State Fairgrounds where he learned to drive and where he went on his first date were used by the fair's Blue Ribbon Foundation to raise money for restoration of the fair's buildings.
Mr. McNarney also played the guitar and piano and was also a composer of verse including a book of limericks, one for each town in Iowa.
Mr. McNarney is survived by his wife Mary Kay, two sons, and their families: Christopher and Karen McNarney and grandchildren Ava and Bennett, all of West Bend, Wisconsin, and Michael McNarney and Lauren Roth of Norfolk, Virginia.
In lieu of flowers, Mr. McNarney had asked that donations be made to the Clive Greenbelt Trail, which he credited with extending his life by giving him a place to bike, walk and run. Donations should be made to the family, which will convey the donations to the city of Clive.
A funeral Mass will be held 10 a.m. Friday at the Basilica of St. John with burial following at Beaver Catholic Cemetery in rural Granger. The family will receive friends from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday with a 7 p.m. Vigil service at Iles Funeral Home Westover Chapel.
William H.H. McNarney, 66, died Monday.
Mr. McNarney was born Aug. 26, 1939 in Des Moines to Margaret F. (Tiernan) McNarney and Frank T. McNarney Jr. A 1957 graduate of Dowling High School, he served in the U.S. Air Force as an electronics technician from 1960 to 1964 at bases in Mississippi, Texas, and Colorado.
A beneficiary of the G.I. Bill, he graduated from Iowa State University in 1967 with a degree in landscape architecture and an emphasis in urban planning. It was at the Iowa State Memorial Union at the Trophy Tavern where he went on a blind date with Mary Catherine Brenneman, an undergraduate whom he would marry April 20, 1968 in her hometown of Marion.
Mr. McNarney worked most of his life in the public service, first as a planner for the state of Nebraska Department of Economic Development and then for Iowa's Office of Planning and Programming. In 1975, Gov. Robert D. Ray appointed him the first executive director of the Iowa Housing Finance Authority, created to help provide affordable housing to low-income Iowans. The authority's conference room is named for him.
Mr. McNarney later worked as director of community investment for the Federal Home Loan Bank in Des Moines and finally, beginning in 1990, as director of the Iowa field office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Mr. McNarney retired from HUD in 2004 to embark full-time on his career as an artist, an avocation he pursued since he was a boy. He was a prolific artist, creating hundreds of pen-and-ink and watercolor works. In 1993, 14 of his drawings of the Iowa State Fairgrounds where he learned to drive and where he went on his first date were used by the fair's Blue Ribbon Foundation to raise money for restoration of the fair's buildings.
Mr. McNarney also played the guitar and piano and was also a composer of verse including a book of limericks, one for each town in Iowa.
Mr. McNarney is survived by his wife Mary Kay, two sons, and their families: Christopher and Karen McNarney and grandchildren Ava and Bennett, all of West Bend, Wisconsin, and Michael McNarney and Lauren Roth of Norfolk, Virginia.
In lieu of flowers, Mr. McNarney had asked that donations be made to the Clive Greenbelt Trail, which he credited with extending his life by giving him a place to bike, walk and run. Donations should be made to the family, which will convey the donations to the city of Clive.
A funeral Mass will be held 10 a.m. Friday at the Basilica of St. John with burial following at Beaver Catholic Cemetery in rural Granger. The family will receive friends from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday with a 7 p.m. Vigil service at Iles Funeral Home Westover Chapel.
Mr. McNarney was born Aug. 26, 1939 in Des Moines to Margaret F. (Tiernan) McNarney and Frank T. McNarney Jr. A 1957 graduate of Dowling High School, he served in the U.S. Air Force as an electronics technician from 1960 to 1964 at bases in Mississippi, Texas, and Colorado.
A beneficiary of the G.I. Bill, he graduated from Iowa State University in 1967 with a degree in landscape architecture and an emphasis in urban planning. It was at the Iowa State Memorial Union at the Trophy Tavern where he went on a blind date with Mary Catherine Brenneman, an undergraduate whom he would marry April 20, 1968 in her hometown of Marion.
Mr. McNarney worked most of his life in the public service, first as a planner for the state of Nebraska Department of Economic Development and then for Iowa's Office of Planning and Programming. In 1975, Gov. Robert D. Ray appointed him the first executive director of the Iowa Housing Finance Authority, created to help provide affordable housing to low-income Iowans. The authority's conference room is named for him.
Mr. McNarney later worked as director of community investment for the Federal Home Loan Bank in Des Moines and finally, beginning in 1990, as director of the Iowa field office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Mr. McNarney retired from HUD in 2004 to embark full-time on his career as an artist, an avocation he pursued since he was a boy. He was a prolific artist, creating hundreds of pen-and-ink and watercolor works. In 1993, 14 of his drawings of the Iowa State Fairgrounds where he learned to drive and where he went on his first date were used by the fair's Blue Ribbon Foundation to raise money for restoration of the fair's buildings.
Mr. McNarney also played the guitar and piano and was also a composer of verse including a book of limericks, one for each town in Iowa.
Mr. McNarney is survived by his wife Mary Kay, two sons, and their families: Christopher and Karen McNarney and grandchildren Ava and Bennett, all of West Bend, Wisconsin, and Michael McNarney and Lauren Roth of Norfolk, Virginia.
In lieu of flowers, Mr. McNarney had asked that donations be made to the Clive Greenbelt Trail, which he credited with extending his life by giving him a place to bike, walk and run. Donations should be made to the family, which will convey the donations to the city of Clive.
A funeral Mass will be held 10 a.m. Friday at the Basilica of St. John with burial following at Beaver Catholic Cemetery in rural Granger. The family will receive friends from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday with a 7 p.m. Vigil service at Iles Funeral Home Westover Chapel.
Family Members
Siblings
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
