James Benedict McDonough was born Feb. 12, 1914 to Frank and Kathryn Murray McDonough. He died Oct. 24, 2009 is buried in the Mount Olivet Cemetery, Key West, IA.
James served with the U.S. Army in World War II with the 232nd Signal Operations Co.
Obituary: Dubuque Telegraph Herald, Dubuque, IA - Oct. 24, 2009
James B. McDonough, 95, of 3129 Hillcrest, died Friday, Oct. 24, 2009 at Luther Manor.
Services will be at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, at St. Patrick Catholic Church. Burial will be in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Key West, where military rites will be accorded by the Dubuque American Legion Post 6. Friends may call f rom 4 to 8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26, at Hoffmann Schneider & Kitchen Funeral Home, 3860 Asbury Road.
He was born on Feb. 12, 1914, son of Frank and Kathryn (Murray) McDonough. He graduated from Sacred Heart High School in Monticello, Iowa, in 1931, and attended the former Lenox College in Hopkinton, Iowa.
He married Melita Ann Nank on July 27, 1963, at St. Patrick Catholic Church, Dubuque.
Jim served as a high-speed radio operator in the Army’s 232nd Signal Corp. During World War II in New Guinea and the Philippines. He witnessed the surrender of Japan aboard the USS Missouri in 1945. In January of 1946, he was honorably discharged.
He worked for many years as a department head at Montgomery Ward in Cedar Rapids, Webster City and Dubuque. He also was salesman for the former Becker-Hazelton Company in Dubuque. For 47 years, he represented the Lee-Wayne Advertising Co. as a salesman, retiring in 2000. Jim was one of the founders of the Plaza 20 Shopping Center in Dubuque, serving as president for a number of years. During that time, he also represented the former Reilly Realty Co. as a salesman. He was a partner and co-owner of the former Palmer Drug in Dubuque and a number of other drug stores in the surrounding area.
Jim was a member of St. Patrick Catholic Church and its Holy Name Society. He was a longtime member of the American Legion and the Fraternal Order of the Elks.
Surviving are his wife, Melita, of Dubuque; a sister-in-law, Ruth (Hayes) McDonough, of Dubuque; godchildren, Kathy Kowalski, of Milwaukee, Wis., Ellen Alessia, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Jim McDonough, of Monticello; as well as many nieces, nephews and friends.
He was preceded in death by his parents; sisters, Mary Loretta McDonough and Catherine Slattery; and brothers, Charles “C J,” Ernest and Thomas.
Source: ancestry.com
