Ethan McCue left no doubt about his patriotism: He carved his feelings right into the ground.
Turned down by the military because of a heart weakness, McCue plowed into a field of stubble the words heard so often in World War II: “Buy Bonds.”
The quarter-mile-long message displayed better writing than many people have with pen and paper. “Dad was always proud of his penmanship,” said son Michael McCue, of Asheville, N.C.
And it made him famous for at least part of 1944.
The Associated Press took an aerial shot of the message, which was in a wheat field 3 miles east of Garden City, Kan., and the picture ran in newspapers all over the country.
McCue, who died June 6 at age 88, became an educator in Denver and resided in Boulder with his wife in later years. Despite a lifetime in the city, his heart was on the family farm in western Kansas.
He often worked summers on the farm, usually repairing farm equipment, which was his speciality.
“He could repair anything,” said Michael McCue. “He’d buy an old car, fix it up and sell it.”
When Ethan McCue was on his honeymoon, family members called him in Canada and asked him to hurry home to fix a farm implement. He did.
Son Ed McCue of Boulder recalls that two Sundays a month, Ethan McCue would let him stand on top of the tool chest and let him see the tools on his work bench, teaching him along the way.
Ethan McCue was a saver. He saved several clippings of the “Buy Bonds” message, as well as ticket stubs of places he had visited, often by bus.
He once had a $69 bus ticket that took him from coast to coast.
A candle he’d saved from the San Francisco World’s Fair was lighted at his memorial service. He also went to the New York World’s Fair in 1939 and 1964.
McCue played the violin, doted on the dahlias in his yard and loved to sing. He had hundreds of songs committed to memory. “He was a real ham,” said Michael McCue, laughing.
Ethan Roy McCue was born April 13, 1917, in Kearny County, Kan., and earned his bachelor’s degree at Emporia State Teachers’ College in Emporia, Kan.
He married Mildred Haag, who also was a teacher, on June 13, 1948.
His 35-year career in teaching and counseling was spent at John F. Kennedy and South high schools in Denver.
In addition to his wife and sons, he is survived by another son, Mark Gilbert McCue of Denver; three grandsons; and his brother, Bezaleel Maxwell McCue II of Garden City, Kan.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at 303-820-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
