Chester Mckee

Chester McKee was born in 1942 in East Vandergrift, Pennsylvania, to working-class parents of Irish and Slovak origin. Vandergrift, a small community with a high immigrant population, was sustained by the local steel mill. Chester?s father worked at the steel mill while his mother cleaned houses to help support the family. Neither one had a high school education. As an adolescent, Chester, like his father, worked at the local foundry during the summers. Meanwhile, his interest in science and philosophy took root. One of his more famous projects at that time was a medium-sized fan-boat with a five-foot propeller and an old gas engine. With this boat, designed and built with his friends, Chester explored the large Kiskiminetas River next to his house. This and other projects showed his early interest in working with people, his entrepreneurial resourcefulness and his ability to take on complex tasks without hesitation. Upon graduating from high school, he decided to attend Duquesne University in nearby Pittsburgh where he studied Chemistry and Physics and where he met his future wife, Carol Santoro. Shortly after graduating with a bachelor's degree in Physics, he and Carol moved to New Mexico where he finished his PhD in Astrophysics and did some of the first work in the simulation of supernovae explosions with the early computers of the time. As a result of this work, he is still cited in current books as one of the pioneers in the field. It was during this period that he started his first company with several colleagues and that he and Carol began a family and raised four children. After obtaining his PhD in 1973, the family moved to California where Chester began a research position at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. But his dream of creating another company continued, and shortly thereafter in 1976, he and the family moved to Laramie, Wyoming, where he taught part-time at the University of Wyoming and started In-Situ Inc. in the basement of the family home. In-Situ Inc. soon grew to 60 employees, specializing in the design, manufacture, and worldwide sales of scientific equipment for the environmental and water-monitoring markets, and continues to prosper today. Always interested in a wide variety of subjects including philosophy, history, religion, the environment, and writing, Chester was in the process of starting work on his latest book, about the dangers of global warming, in 1997 when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. Not to be deterred by the diagnosis and determined to overcome this hurdle, he threw himself into the research and study of the disease with a fervor that amazed his family and friends. Throughout this time, he continued to maintain his positive, can-do attitude, making new friends, helping the community through his local church, delivering a lecture on the existence of God, keeping current with the scientific literature on his condition and continuing research on his book. Even during this period, 20 years after he held a teaching position at a university, former students contacted him to express their gratitude for having made a positive impact on their lives. Chester epitomized in many ways the American dream. He was a self-made man who came from a humble background and achieved success in many areas through his talent and hard work. He will be remembered most of all for his enthusiasm for life and belief that he should help make the world a better place. His ideals, life's work, and his actions will continue to inspire people that he touched now that he has left us. Chester is survived by Carol and his four children, Christopher, Craig, Colleen, and Angela, his mother, Rose, his sister, Sandy Ahlquist, as well as his two grandchildren, Liza and Isaiah. A Funeral Mass will be held at 10:00am on Saturday, March 29th at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in East Vandergrift, Pennsylvania. Viewing and parting prayers will be held beforehand at the church from 9:00-10:00am. The family requests that any memorial donations be made to the Alzheimer's Association (for research) in care of Goes Funeral Care, 3665 Canal Drive, Fort Collins, Colorado 80524.