Harvey Lee McCray

Harvey Lee McCray, age 94, passed away on February 9, 2026, at Mill Creek Village Assisted Living in Columbia, Missouri. He was born June 1, 1931, in Columbia to Marthareid (Young) McCray and William Victor (Vic) McCray. He is a 1949 graduate of David H. Hickman High School, Columbia. After spending two years at the University of Missouri in the School of Agriculture, he was drafted by the U.S. Army in November 1951 and served 18 months as a paratrooper in the 11th Airborne, Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He made 17 parachute jumps. After his honorable discharge in 1953, he returned to the University of Missouri, where he earned his B.S. degree in Business Administration and Public Relations and was a member of the Missouri Alpha Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.

After graduating, he served as a bakery flour sales representative for General Mills, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, for one year. He then became a writer, editor and publisher of 61 fraternity and sorority chapter newsletters for the Stewart Howe Alumni Service at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, and later moved on with the same organization to Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, then to the University of Kansas, Lawrence. In 1961 he joined Sertoma International, Kansas City, Missouri, as Director of Publications and Public Relations. During a 14-year career with Sertoma that he ended as Executive Director, he received five Freedom Foundation at Valley Forge awards as editor of The Sertoman magazine.

In 1975 Harvey became Executive Vice President of the National Auctioneers Association, in Lincoln, Nebraska, and moved the headquarters to Overland Park, Kansas, in 1983. He then served as Executive Vice President of the Association of Operative Millers, headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, and later Leawood, Kansas, from 1989 until his retirement on December 31, 2011.

Harvey was a member and president of the Rotary Club of Overland Park, Kansas; was a member of the Shawnee Mission, Kansas; Kansas City; and Lincoln Sertoma Clubs and a Life Member of Sertoma International. He was a member of the Kansas City, Missouri; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Overland Park Chambers of Commerce, and the Overland Park Convention and Visitors Bureau, the latter of whose board of directors he served on. He was a member of the Kansas City Society of Association Executives and American Society of Association Executives; the Greater Kansas City Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America; and the American Association of Industrial Editors. He also served with the U.S. Commission for Hiring the Handicapped, Washington, D.C., now the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and was an election worker and supervising judge for the Johnson County, Kansas, Election Commission.

Harvey was a member of the Presbyterian Church of Stanley from 1985 to 2014, where he served as member of Session (Elder) for two terms and later as Clerk of Session. He was a sponsor for the youth on several canoe, ski and mission trips, was the moderator of the PCOS preschool, and sang in the chancel choir. Upon moving to Columbia, MO in 2014, he and Linda became members of First Presbyterian Church of Columbia, Missouri and sang in the choir until 2020.

During his retirement years he worked as a volunteer and players’ assistant at the Sykes/Lady Golf Course, Overland Park, Kansas. One of Harvey’s disappointments in his life as a golfer (he played his first game when he was 8 years old) was that he never made a hole in one and never shot his age in scoring.

Harvey’s survivors include one daughter, Melissa K. McCray, Kansas City, Missouri; one son, Burke P. McCray, and his wife, Gail (Willis) McCray, granddaughter, Ainsley Reid McCray and grandson, Quincy Stevens McCray, all of Columbia, Missouri. Also surviving are several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his wife of 59 years, Linda Ann (Burkhalter) McCray; mother, Marthareid (Young) McCray; father, William Victor McCray; and two older twin brothers, William L. McCray and Edwin V. McCray.

A memorial service will be held on March 9, 2026 at 11:00 am at Memorial Funeral Home Chapel, 1217 Business Loop 70 W, Columbia, MO 65202. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to the Disabled American Veterans at the Columbia, Missouri VA Medical Center or Gentiva Hospice.