Timothy Robert McQueary
December 21, 1988 – July 11, 2021
Alexandria Funeral Home is assisting the Family
Obituary via Alexandria Funeral Home
Timothy Robert McQueary, 32, died unexpectedly from natural causes on Sunday July 11, 2021. He was recognized by those who knew him best as smart, shy, and a quiet guy with loyalty and dedication to those close to him. His father, Bob McQueary, said although at heart “Tim” was a peacekeeper that was not typically the type of person to speak out, he was always prepared to stand up for those closest to him.
“He defended everybody he loved to the end,” Bob said. “A very loving and caring individual.”
Born on December 21, 1988 his mother Ronda McQueary (nee Snyder) refers to him as a “Christmas Baby” because that’s the day they took him home from the hospital. She remembers placing him in a stocking instead of a swaddle so the local Cincinnati news teams could broadcast him and the other newborns live on air.
As a blonde haired and blue eyed boy, she jokes being worried that “people would think she stole him” because of the contrast of features he had compared to his parents. Lovingly nicknamed “stink-a-dink-a-doo”, he was full of energy and mischief. You could often find him wearing cowboy boots in only underwear as he played in puddles and used his favorite blanket as a cape to imitate Superman. Ronda is able to laugh about it now, but will admit that it hasn’t always been that way.
“I remember when we lived on Blue Rock Road (in Cincinnati), going out into our back yard where there was a 50-foot pine tree.” She said. “I looked up and there was Tim. He climbed to the top and his cowboy boots had fallen off as he struggled to figure out a way down.”
You might think that young Tim received a stern reprimand for climbing that tree, but as Ronda described her son’s personality she admitted that it wasn’t easy finding effective discipline for him.
“You could never punish the kid. Because he would always just make the best of it.” She said. “I sent him to stand in the corner one time for almost an hour thinking it would teach him a lesson. Once I let him turn around he told me he had counted the number of squares in the patterned ceiling above his head and gave me the number.”
He attended St. Joseph School in Cold Spring, KY for grades K-7, Campbell County Middle School for Eighth Grade, and graduated from Campbell County High School in 2007. Among his favorite subjects was history, particularly Gothic Art/Architecture and Greek Mythology. Throughout his school years, Tim participated in karate, Boy Scouts, baseball, basketball, and welding classes.
A definitive quirk to Tim’s personality was his penchant for literalism. As his immediate family sat and reminisced shortly after his death, they could not help but laugh out loud as they each chimed in their favorite stories.
“We asked him to go to KFC one time to pick up dinner, with instructions to pick up one ‘family feast’ and a few extra things.” His younger sister Meghan Kasten (nee McQueary) said. “He took that to mean we wanted three extra entire family feasts and spent over $150! We asked him why he didn’t think it was strange to bring back so much food and he looked at us confused because he was following our instructions.”
“Yeah, we had six tubs of mashed potatoes for dinner that night for six people”, his older sister Katie Schwarber (nee McQueary) cracked.
“It took him like an hour too!” his younger brother, Noah McQueary joked.
In another instance Ronda remembers sending him to the grocery for a box of “Kleenex”. Tim went to several different stores, passing over other generic brands of facial tissue before returning home with the name brand in hand for her.
It turns out that Tim’s literal personality suited him well for a career in the military. He had always admired the lineage of service members in his family and as he was looking for jobs one day online he took an aptitude test to help figure out a career. The answer he received led him to a local recruiting center to check out the different branches of service. Upon his arrival, the offices were all locked and he was on his way to leave when a Navy recruiter stopped him. Shortly after, a Marine Corps recruiter tried to persuade him away but Tim’s loyalty wouldn’t allow him to change over.
“The Navy guy got to him first, so Tim was loyal to him,” Bob said. “That pretty much sums up his personality right there.”
Tim enlisted in 2009, went through boot camp at Naval Station Great Lakes north of Chicago, IL and graduated Accession Training (“A School”) as a Gunner’s Mate having tested in the top three of his class. He spent the remainder of his career serving outside of the continental United States. Based at Naval Air Station Sigonella (NAS) in Sicily, he supported various mission sets to include the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, military operations in Bahrain, and Operation Unified Protector that resulted in the NATO liberation of Libya and overthrow of Dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Upon his honorable discharge from active duty in 2013, Tim moved back to Cincinnati to stay close to his family and work through the intricacies of transitioning from wartime service to civilian life. During his free time, he was an active role model for both his nephew, Cameron Schwarber, and niece Makenna Schwarber.
“Makenna especially adored him,” Katie said. “She called him Uncle Teem”.
“She (Makenna) idolized him,” said Ronda.
Bob described his son as the type of person whom both kids and animals naturally loved. Most recently he spent most of his time with family and loved to go camping with them on the Ohio River. His role was always to start and maintain the camp fire as they enjoyed the scenery of the outdoors.
This is not the first child Bob and Ronda have lost. In 1994, their middle son Nicholas Brian McQueary died three days after birth from Trisomy 18 (aka Edwards Syndrome).
“When Tim was about twelve years old and Noah was three, they were looking at the picture book of their brother Nicholas,” Ronda said. “Noah said ‘him has some funny legs’. Tim responded ‘they are not legs, those are his angel wings’”.
The family has arranged for Tim and Nicholas will be buried together in the same plot.
Visitation will be 10-1 p.m. Monday, 19 July, at Alexandria Funeral Home, 325 Washington St, Alexandria, KY 41001 with burial services following at Arlington Memorial Gardens, 2145 Compton Rd, Cincinnati, OH 45231. An informal celebration of his life will take place immediately after the burial at Barnesburg Tavern & Grille, 5761 Springdale Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45247.
Memorials should be sent to the Cincinnati VA Medical Center, 3200 Vine Street
Cincinnati, OH 45220. Https://www.cincinnati.va.gov/giving/index.asp.
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