James Lee McKeown Obituary.
Published by his son James L. McKeown,
Jr. My father was a no-nonsense kind of guy. Instead of an obituary,
we're going to put this out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
The sum total of my followers in these social media platforms exceeds the
circulation of the newspaper. Dad would have wanted the cremation he got
for a mere $500. He would have cringed over the Tampa Bay Times wanting to
charge us $714.00 for a one time printing of all that is listed below. Oh,
and to add a picture of him would have been an additional $50.00. If print
media is dead, it's because the people who manage it have priced themselves
out of relevancy. Dad would have wanted us to throw a party/life
celebration complete with hors d'oeuvres, drinks and dancing. So we'll put
that newspaper money to better use by throwing a party - the memory of
which will last longer than one day.
James Lee McKeown Sr. passed away
in Clearwater peacefully during the moment of silence held at the White
House on September 11th 2015. He was born in Quincy, Florida and graduated
from Florida State University with a degree in Medical Technology. He went
on to complete laboratory residency training in Miami, Florida at Jackson
Memorial Hospital. He later settled in Clearwater, Florida where he went on
to found, own, and operate Clearwater Clinical Laboratories. When he first
started the medical laboratory in 1957 he was known to make house-calls to
patients' homes based on doctor's prescriptions for laboratory tests, and
he would charge patient's five dollars for the house-call. He was the
laboratory medical director until his retirement in 1998. He and the
laboratory set up scholarships at both Florida State University and
University of South Florida in his son, Kevin Lee McKeown's name. Jim Sr,
or "Senior" as he was often referred to, was an avid outdoorsman; hunting
and fishing worldwide were his pursuits. He often reminded his family of
Ernest Hemingway or Teddy Roosevelt as he loved the great outdoors and will
be remembered as driven, relentless, outgoing, and larger than life. We
believe he was greeted in heaven by his son, Kevin McKeown along with a
host of others. Jim Sr. is survived by the mother of his children, Ruth
McKeown (Clearwater); his remaining son, James L McKeown, Jr. (Clearwater);
Grandsons, Krystian Rudell McKeown (Ft Campbell, KY) and Hunter McKeown
(Clearwater); Grand-daughters, Marcie McKeown (Ft. Campbell, KY) and Katie
McKeown (Clearwater); Great Grandson, Hutch Rudell McKeown (KY); and Great
Granddaughters, Ella Grace McKeown (KY) and Charlie Blythe McKeown
(Clearwater).
