Alumnus honors MdCV valedictorians
Lawrence Lester McNabb, a 1938 Melvern High
School alumnus, has provided scholarship monies since 1985, to
benefit each MdCV student earning the rank of class
valedictorian.
McNabb was born in Melvern on February 20, 1920. He joined the U.S.
Navy on April 7, 1939, and married Ella Loraine Bishop in Norfolk,
Virginia, on February 16, 1951.
McNabb was one of several Kansans featured in a December 4, 2006, Topeka Capital article, titled “Pearl Harbor: Sounds of War.” He himself also wrote an article titled “Deceit at Pearl Harbor,” for the Winter 2003 issue of the Central California Veterans Magazine.
McNabb served in the U.S. Navy for 21 years with tours of duty on eight different ships, visiting approximately 50 countries as well as many island ports. He was a Chief Petty Officer for 16 years and was on the USS Pennsylvania when Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941.
During his tenure he saw four years of action aboard ship, predominately in the South Pacific where he was involved in a variety of naval engagements. As the war ended, Lawrence was assigned six months of duty at Bikini Atoll. It was here that he observed the explosion of two atomic bombs, one occurring below the ocean surface and the other above the surface. During the Korean Conflict, he also served in a variety of overseas assignments.
After retiring from the U.S. Navy in 1959, he pursued a career in real estate. His second career encompassed three decades, 1959-1985, in which he participated in 493 sales and exchanges.
In 1963 McNabb became one of the first life members of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association. He has been Central California Chapter 8 vice president for four years, president for two years and national historian. McNabb has written two books about the Pearl Harbor attack and is also a member of the Masonic Lodge.
Beginning with the Marais des Cygnes Valley graduating class of 1985, McNabb announced his intent to provide a $1,000 scholarship to the class valedictorian. The scholarship is to be used for expenses relating to formal, post-secondary education of the student’s choice. In 1992, McNabb and his wife granted Unified School District 456 a U.S. Government Treasury Bond, thereby providing a perpetual source to fund the annual scholarship. If the valedictorian does not pursue formal, post-secondary education, the award will be made available to the salutatorian under the same conditions.
In 2002, McNabb revised his scholarship plan to include an additional $1,000 to the valedictorian for the second year of enrollment in post-secondary education.
