William Edward McQuail 1936-2020

9/15/2020

MCQUAIL, William Edward, departed this life on September 15, 2020. He now resides in Heaven's cocktail lounge sipping on a very dry gin martini in a rocks glass or a Bud Light. We are sure he's also petting our beloved family beagle, Bill Jr. That's right he named his ornery dog after himself.

Bill was born on July 1, 1936, to Sarah Clendenin and James Anthony McQuail. He graduated from Granby High School, attended VMI and graduated from RPI/VCU. He was a veteran of the United States Army. Bill's favorite job was working on the N&W Railroad. He also worked as a claims supervisor for Travelers Insurance. He referred to himself as a "Travelers Executive." Bill had a very active social life living by the motto "always a gentleman but still a sport." Bill married Mary Lou Rollings on July 13, 1968 and in his words she "civilized" him. He would describe her as a great wife, mother and "the best cook in the world," thus ending his days of consuming nothing but TV dinners and Dinty Moore Beef Stew. Bill is also survived by his daughter, Sally (Bill) Goodnight; and his son, Steve McQuail (Sherry); younger brothers, Jim and John; and a host of friends. Bill was a wonderful husband and father doing everything he could to give his family a happy life...except cook. He was a self-admitted terrible cook. Nineteen years ago, Bill embarked on one of his favorite roles: grandfather. Bryce, Katelyn, Caroline and William loved spending time with "Bop," "Pop" or "Valiant Leader." In his usual informal style, Bill was the grandfather who thought his grandchildrens' gargantuan burps were hysterical and paid his grandchildren to bring him Bud Lights. Bill loved family, trains, friends, good food, jazz music, dogs and laughter. The more inappropriate the jokes the better and he had a gift for colorful language. He loved exerting his "special" influence on children by teaching them special handshakes and sayings. Most of those sayings were inappropriate for school and other social settings. As we say farewell to Bill, we'd like to say:

"It was nice doing business with you. 'Preciate your vote. We'll have lunch in Manhattan with Al Bernstein at Nedicks."

A celebration of Bill's life will take place at some point when eating barbecue and drinking beer isn't hampered by masks. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made towards finding cure for Parkinson's Disease through The Michael J. Fox Foundation at michaeljfox.org.

A special thanks to the caregivers at Beth Sholom Living Center on units three and four. We appreciate everything you did to take care of Bill. We know he made you earn your money. We'd also like to thank Capital Caring Hospice for helping us during his journey to the great cocktail lounge in the sky.