Long-time Hollister resident and chiropractor.
Dr. Willard D. McNown, a Hollister chiropractor for more than 40 years, died Monday, May 12, 2003 at the William and Inez Mabie Skilled Nursing Center. He was 85.
Dr. McNown was born in Oklahoma City, Okla. and came to California from New York when his father, Dr. Floyd McNown, established a chiropractic practice in Newman. The family moved to San Benito County in 1929 when Floyd McNown became Hollister’s first chiropractor.
Willard McNown graduated from San Benito High School, where he was an all-league football player for two years. He received a partial scholarship to San Jose State University but an injury forced him to return to Hollister, where he enrolled in a civilian pilot training program at San Benito Junior College. He completed advanced pilot training and was training to be a flight instructor when World War II broke out and he applied for the Army Air Corps. Refused because of his color blindness, he received a waiver to join the Air Corps with the stipulation that he complete 1,000 hours of instruction time. After logging the time as an instructor, “Mac” McNown was commissioned as a second lieutenant and was assigned to the Air Transport Command, delivering fighters, bombers and transport planes to air bases around the U.S., from where they were flown to war zones.
In October 1943 he received orders for the Army Air Corps and was assigned to the 31st Air Transport Group in Oxford, England, where he was a utility pilot and also tested P-51 fighter aircraft. Among then-Capt. McNown’s passengers were Gens. George S. Patton and Dwight D. Eisenhower and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
After the war, Dr. McNown became a flight instuctor in Reno, Nev., where he met his future wife, Virginia Chadwell. They were married in October 1946 and moved to Los Angeles, where, following in his father’s footsteps, he attended the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic. Upon graduation, he returned to Hollister where he took over his father’s practice.
He was a past member of Hollister Lodge No. 1436 BPOE, a member of the Presbyterian Church and was an avid outdoorsman, hunter and fisherman.
He is survived by his wife, Virginia McNown of Hollister; his children and their spouses, Dr. Jeff and Colleen McNown, Melissa and Dr. Bill Brandon and Randall D. McNown, all of Hollister; and nine grandchildren.
Per Dr. McNown’s request, cremation and private inurnment was conducted through Grunnagle-Ament-Nelson Funeral Home and Crematory. A private celebration of his life will be held May 23.
Memorials are preferred to the National Rifle Association.
