William David McBee
April 28, 1955 – September 1, 2017
William David McBee, husband, father, grandfather, son, brother, died Friday morning, Sept. 1 at the age of 62, after a heroic fight with complications due to cancer. David was born on April 28, 1955 in Kennewick, Wash. to William and Dessie McBee.
After his family spent time in Oklahoma they moved to Moses Lake, Wash. in 1959 where David loved to play sports and started his lifelong fight with a disease called ankylosing spondylitis and a severe case of arthritis. Although those who knew David would never describe him with those diseases in mind, but instead as a servant and the toughest person that they’ve ever met. He graduated from Moses Lake High School in 1973 and then moved back to Oklahoma to attend Oklahoma Baptist University so that he could be a missionary overseas. He soon found out that, because of all the medications he was on, they would not allow him to go into missions work, so he made the United States his mission field for Jesus Christ. It was at Oklahoma Baptist University that he met the love of his life, Debbie Lott. She would say it was love at first sight; David would tell you he didn’t think so because he felt she was way out of his league. David and Debbie married in Cranberry Township, Penn. on June 19, 1976.
David had numerous church jobs as youth pastor, music director, preacher, elder, et cetera in numerous towns in both Oklahoma and Washington. He didn’t care about the title or pay; he just wanted people to know about Jesus.
At the same time he owned a sign business, just like his father did. In 1986 when the oil bust happened in Oklahoma he lost his top 10 clients in the sign business and wasn’t sure what was next for him. He ended up taking an aptitude test and found out that the two things he should consider as an occupation was a director at a YMCA or a stockbroker. So the Jesus freak religion major did what anyone would do that point: he became a stockbroker.
He started with Merrill Lynch in Lawton, Okla. in 1987 just in time for the market crash labeled “Black Monday.” But if you know anything about David, you know he was persistent. After successfully navigating the markets for the next three years, he decided to move his family back to where he always dreamed of living as a boy. When David was a child, his father would take his whole family to the State High School Basketball Championships in Seattle. He always wanted to live there. In 1989 his family moved to Washington again where David worked for Merrill Lynch in downtown Seattle.
After being in the business for 17 years, David and his eldest son Seth decided to open up their own investment firm, McBee Advisors, Inc., and for the last 13 years they worked together as partners until David’s passing.
David is survived by his wife Debbie and both of his boys, Seth David McBee and Samuel Joseph McBee, as well as 10 grandchildren Caleb, Elijah, Judah, Maya, Coleman, Madelynn, Ezekiel, Solomon, Titus and Gabriel.
He is also survived by all of his brothers and sisters: Stephen (Patti) McBee, Deborah (Shaun) Middleton, Sarah (David) Sawyer and James (Ann) McBee.
Memorial services will be held at Eastgate Bible Fellowship in Bellevue, Wash, 15005 SE 38th St, on Thursday, Sept. 7 at 6:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers and gifts, tax-deductible contributions can be made in the name of David McBee by visiting the website www.theduryees.com/support.