Michael Alan Mcnally

Michael McNally (known to friends and loved ones by his middle name, Alan) passed peacefully from this life in the early hours of Thursday, May 6, 2021 at the age of 81. A loving husband, father, and grandfather, Alan is survived by his wife, Ardeth McNally, his daughter, Kelli McNally Lorey, sister Carolyn Yoss, brother-in-law, Clifford Buckley, sister-in-law Marie Buckley, his son-in-law Brandon Lorey, and his grandchildren Kyle and Courtney Lorey.

Alan was born in Lamar, Missouri on October 1, 1939. The avid golfer, boater, and pilot lived a truly adventurous life, having joined the United States Navy after graduating from Pittsburg State University with a Bachelor’s in Math. It was in the Navy that Alan learned to fly, his term of active duty spent flying with an Aircraft Carrier-based antisubmarine unit. After leaving active duty, he remained in the Naval Reserves until retiring in 1991, having attained the rank of Captain. Having found his passion in the cockpit of an airplane, Alan began flying commercial airliner jets with TWA in 1968. With the exception of occasional odd jobs during periods of furlough, Alan would fly for TWA for the rest of his career until retiring as a Captain in 1999.

Alan and Ardeth raised Kelli in Port Jefferson, New York, and from the nineties onward spent winters in Naples, Florida. He travelled around the world, flying to every continent but Antarctica, and earned a reputation amongst those who knew him as wise, fair, loving, and – above all else – fun. A lover of mischief who frequently averred that he didn’t believe in boredom, Alan made friends easily and often, and was loved by all who knew him.

Alan lived a life worthy of aspiration. He spent his working life on his passion for flight, his leisure time on his passion for golf, and devoted the time in between to his loving family, whom he adored with all his heart.  Alan McNally lived a truly good life, and will forever be remembered for living with the spirit evinced in Richard Bach’s 1970 novella, Jonathan Livingston Seagull:

“Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gull’s life is so short, and with these gone from his thought, he lived a long fine life indeed.”