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William J. "Bill" McCue Veteran
March 23, 2022

Obituary

William J. "Bill" McCue, 88, of Assonet, died Wednesday, March 23, 2022, at home with his family. He was the husband of Mary L. Bowen.

Born in Boston, a son of the late Edward J. and Dorothy L. (Hanson) McCue, he was raised in Roxbury and attended Wakefield schools before entering the United States Air Force during the Korean War.

After leaving the Air Force, he resided for times in California, Mexico, Florida, Maryland, Vermont, Martha's Vineyard, and in and around Boston, working as a painter, cook, boxer, and varied other professions, including a time working in the kitchen of the Mountain Top Inn in Vermont.

In the 1960s he worked as a painter on Martha's Vineyard with his good friend, the late Arthur Strople, and often talked of climbing the steeple of the West Tisbury Congregational Church. From the late 1960s to the early 1980s he worked in the field of substance abuse treatment, holding positions as Drug Treatment Coordinator for the Massachusetts Department of Correction and as executive director of the former Project Turnabout and Third Nail drug rehabilitation programs in Boston. Following this he returned to Martha's Vineyard to paint, then to cooking at the former Bickford's restaurant in Raynham, and finally back to painting from about 1987 until he retired in 2014 at the age of 81. A testament to the work ethic of his generation, he would often say he hadn't retired; rather, people would not hire a man his age when the work involved climbing ladders.

He enjoyed football (playing in his younger years and watching later in life), baseball, saltwater fishing, bingo, reading, drawing, playing pool, and following politics. He was a former member of the Freetown Finance Committee, Planning Board, and Democratic Town Committee, and the George R. Austin Intermediate School Building Committee. He had also volunteered as an umpire for the former Assonet Youth Sports Association.

In addition to his wife, he leaves three sons, Kevin M. and his wife, Jean, of Bradford, Me.; Kenneth R. and his partner, Colin, of Portugal; and Michael T. of Assonet; two daughters, Kimberly Dyndiuk and her husband, Michael, of Silver City, N.M.; and Kellie Cowsert and her husband, Fred, of Wheatland, Mo.; and many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. He was the brother of the late Joseph F. McCue, Edward R. "Bobby" McCue, Dorothy (McCue) Noviello, Elizabeth L. (McCue) McLaughlin, and David L. "Bunky" McCue.
Calling hours will be held at the O’Keefe-Wade Funeral; Home, 70 Washington Street in Taunton on Sunday, March 27th from 5-7 PM. A Mass of Christian burial will be held at St Bernard’s Church, 30 South Main Street in Assonet on Monday at 11 AM. Interment Assonet Burial Grounds will be after the mass.

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O'Keefe-Wade Funeral Home
70 Washington Street
Taunton, MA 02780
508-823-3371