Robert McCants was born 1 December 1923 in Emporia, Kansas to Orville J. and Scina (Cherry) McCants. He graduated from Emporia High School in 1942 and attended Emporia Teachers College until he entered active duty with the US Army on 17 March 1943 where he served as a cryptographic repairman in the US Army Signal Corps until his honorable discharge in March 1946. He then attended Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University) and graduated with a BS in Electrical Engineering in June 1949. He joined the federal civil service in 1949 and spent his entire career in Air force Systems Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.
He considered the two highlights of his career to be extended deployments to Kadena Airbase, Okinawa in 1953 where he worked with test pilots Harold Collins and Chuck Yeager during the technical exploitation of the MiG-15 (the very plane now displayed in the USAF Museum in Dayton) and to Ubon Airbase, Thailand in 1970 to fix critical electrical systems integration issues in the C-130 gunship program.
In 1947, Robert married Ethel Louise Spears at her home in Appleton, Arkansas. They divorced in 1982. Robert McCants is survived by his sister Colleen Nielsen; by his three married children Blaine McCants (Janice Sebring), Janice Patrick (Gilbert), and Robert N. McCants (Sonia); and his two grandchildren Russell and Mary McCants.
A private family service for the interment of his remains will be held spring 2020 at the McCants family gravesite in Emporia, Kansas. He wished to give his special thanks to the staff of Bethany Village for their loving care.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18