Kenneth Murchison McIntyre ’40

Kenneth Murchison McIntyre ’40 died April 21. Born May 15, 1917, in Red Oak, N.C., he was the son of Nettie Eula Ellen and Kenneth Henry McIntyre. He graduated from Davidson, and then traveled to East St. Louis where he learned to fly. He enlisted in the Navy in 1941 and was stationed in London, England, until the United States entered the war. After six months of duty in Iceland, he returned home and attended flight school in Pensacola, Fla., where he earned his wings. He was a pilot and flight instructor for the remainder of the war, including six months in the Pacific after the war ended. He married Pattie Graves Bartee on Dec. 18, 1943. They moved to Chapel Hill in 1948 where he earned his master’s degree and worked for the university as head of the audio visual bureau for 37 years. He was an avid photographer and loved planes, trains, and boats. After retiring from the University of North Carolina, he served in the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary for many years. He was passionate about public education, racial equality, the Democratic Party, which he regarded as the party of the working people, and the university. Most of all, he cherished his beloved wife Pattie, who died in 2001 after 57 years of marriage. During his retirement, he wrote a book about his Navy years called The Land From Which We Sprung. He is survived by his daughter, Susan Bartee McIntyre Lefler (Charles), 568 E. Main St., Brevard, NC 28712; his grandchildren, Nathan Sumner Lefler, Jason McIver Lefler, Ida Page Lefler Gallimore, Miriam Deems Lefler, and by their wives and husbands. He had seven great-grandchildren. He was from a family of nine: four sisters are living and many nieces and nephews. He spent the last two years of his life in Brevard where his daughter lives with her husband, but he was flown back to Chapel Hill to be laid to rest beside Pattie, who was the love of his life.