In Memory of John Raymond McKenna

John Raymond McKenna and his dog, Dublin 1938-2023

This story started as a tribute to John Raymond McKenna but ,it quickly became self evident the story was more than just one man…..

One cannot talk about York History and it’s people without of course mentioning the McKenna family. Recently, we lost John (Raymond) McKenna. Having attended the wake, I was surprised at just how much I did not know of this large Irish Brood.

A summary of John ‘s life written by his sister Christine, tells just how much he did in York and the seacoast. Many will pass his stone work and wonder who did that? Most locals know well enough it has to be the work of John and his crew.

A soft spoken man with a big heart, he told me once when I questioned who was who in the McKenna tribe? He said, “the easiest way to figure it out is a father,” (Mike McKenna who came to America 1898) and his son Art married two sisters who came over from Ireland. Big Mike McKenna had 4 boys by his first marriage and his wife (Mary Conway) died young. Mike went on to marry Bridie Scully and have 8 more children . Arthur married Bridie’s sister, Theresa and had 4 boys and a girl.

The family has shared some photos …There has to be a lot of McKenna stories out there, please share if you would…….some family members follow us at York History Group on Facebook.

When researching we strive for accuracy. We put up documents that even family members might not have seen but are public information.

We did a quick newspaper search and were overwhelmed by the number of times the McKenna’s hit the news. We put up most articles with pictures but, there were too many. What to choose as with any of our longer articles we go into more details in the captions.

R.I.P. John Raymond McKenna

It was a pleasure to research this family, as my own granny stepped off the boat from Ireland in 1920, never to return.

Thanks to Chris Moulton for the pictures, son of Mary Geraldine McKenna.

Read John Raymond McKenna’s obituary here

The Wiggly Bridge Path …..always in need of repairs…. John McKenna and his crew finally rebuilt it to make it last
Kenny Keen longtime family friend and John Raymond McKenna
John and his nephew Marty McKenna jr at ball game watching his grand nephew play….
The pall bearers for John
McKenna Family at John ‘s funeral
Danny McKenna, John , Earl Hanson in backhoe
Mary Geraldine John’s oldest sister and John
The Family of Arthur McKenna L to R Jim, Larry, Veronica, Robert , Joe
All the cousins
Mike McKenna and his first wife Mary….
Mary Geraldine
Dave McKenna
Mike McKenna a competitive ballroom dancer before his tragic end….
Mike McKenna killed while hanging from a helicopter to paint a steeple.

John and his wife Jeanine…..

Town employee Earl Hanson and John……they worked on many jobs together
Mike and Bridie and the second family.

Marty McKenna’s grandson Ryan a professional ball player