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Willard Henshaw Markey of East Rockhill Township died Jan. 16, 2004, at Lutheran Community at Telford. He was 93.

 

He was the husband of Leona Palmer Markey for 66 years.

 

Born in Washington D.C. on March 19, 1910, he was the son of the late Willard Markey and Bertha LaRue Zimmerman Markey.

Mr. Markey grew up in Frederick, Md. and graduated from Frederick High School, Bliss Electrical School in Tacoma Park, Md, and studied in the department of drama at Yale University in New Haven, Conn. In 1930, he was a founding member of the original Fredericktown Players in Winchester Hall and served as its technical director.

 

He was an active member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, serving on the church council, as treasurer of the Sunday school and president of the men's club. When Frederick City received a Public Works Administration grant in the 1930s to build a sanitary sewer system, Mr. Markey joined the city engineering department as a draftsman in the preparation of plans and construction of the system.

 

During World War II, he served as the assistant city engineer covering civil defense and the expansion of the Linginore Water Filtration Plant. He was a private pilot and in January 1942, was a founding member of the Frederick Civil Air Patrol and served as a training officer. When Detrick Field closed as an airport and became Camp Detrick, he was one of the first to point out the need for a new Frederick Airport. He was appointed to the Mayor's Airport Committee and worked with that group in the planning and construction of the current Frederick Municipal Airport, located east of the city.

 

Mr. Markey was active in music and was the vocalist and front man for Joe Stephen's Orchestra in the 1930s and 1940s. During the summer season, this popular band played for dances weekly at the Braddock Heights Pavilion in Braddock Park. In the 1940s, he resigned his position with the city of Frederick to accept a position as district manager for Schulmerich Electronics of Sellersville, where he was responsible for the sale and installation of electronic amplification systems in churches, schools and public buildings in the states of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina.

 

Following the death of his son in 1952, he resigned as district manager and accepted the position of vice president of sales and marketing. He moved his family to Perkasie. He became an active member of St. Andrew's Lutheran Church and Sellersville Kiwanis Club, where he served as its president, and was a member of the general advisory committee of Upper Bucks Technical School. He was a craft member of the Church Architectural Guild of America and its craft committee.

 

 

In 1959, Mr. Markey returned to Frederick to become the first full time executive director of Frederick County United Fund. In the 1960s, he served as a director of the Lutheran Community at Telford and was chairman of its board. He rejoined Schulmerich in 1963 as vice president of marketing and sales of handbells to churches, schools and community groups. On April 1, 1974, he retired from Schulmerich after nearly 40 years of association.

 

On May 1, 1974, he joined Malmark Bellcraftsmen in introducing Malmark handbells to the music world. He was a member of the music Educators National Conference, its music industry conference, where he served as a director and in 1980, he was awarded an honorary life membership by the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers Inc. for his contributions to the art of handbell ringing, He served as vice president and secretary of Malmark Inc. from 1974 until his death.

 

In 1969, Mr, Markey helped to organize a planning commission for East Rockhill Township and served as its chairman and was an active member until his death. He represented the township on the Pennridge Wastewater Treatment Authority for 22 years. He also was a member of the East Rockhill Park and Recreation Board. When the township celebrated its 100th anniversary by creating a 94 acre park, the community honored him by naming it, The Willard H. Markey Centennial Park.

 

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his daughters, Susanne Bensing and her husband, Dr. Jeff Bensing, of Lebanon and Jane Rivera and her husband, Edric Rivera, of Perkasie; five grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; a sister, Nancy Ackler and her husband, Richard, of Baltimore, Md.; and many nieces and nephews.

 

Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 21, in St. Andrew's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Dill and Chestnut streets, Perkasie, where friends may call from noon until the time of the service. Graveside services will be held at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 22, in Mount Olivet Cemetery, 515 S. Market St., Frederick, Md.

 

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Willard H. Markey Scholarship Fund, c/o First Savings Bank of Perkasie, 1129 N. Fifth St., P.O. Box 176, Perkasie, PA 18944. Bernard Suess Funeral Home, Perkasie.

 

 

 

- As published in The Intelligencer 1/18 & 1/20

January 16, 2004

 

Willard Henshaw Markey