Installing the Dave McKay Memorial

After he died in late 2004, the friends of David McKay raised money to buy a bronze memorial to Dave to be installed in Berea.

McKay, who served as president of the Akron Railroad Club for 12 years before stepping down the same month that he passed away, often could be found on weekends in Berea sitting beneath a lone tree with his camera watching and photographing trains of Norfolk Southern and CSX passing at this busy Cleveland area hot spot.

Some of the money for the memorial was raised from sales of Dave’s first book, Trackside Around Cleveland 1965-1979 with Dave McKay, that was published in 2005 by Morning Sun Books.

Dave completed work on the book, including writing the text and selecting the photographs several months before his death but did not live long enough to see the book printed.

Shortly before he died, McKay expressed the desire that his remains be cremated and the ashes spread near BE Tower, where he had spent many an hour watching trains over a 40 year period.

The ARRC held a book release party on April 2, 2005, and that fall gathered in Berea on a Saturday afternoon for a brief dedication ceremony of the McKay memorial.

The three images shown here were made on Sept. 21, 2005, in Berea on the day that the memorial was placed in the ground.

The three men shown are the late William Surdyk, Marty Surdyk and Harold Mickley.

Photographs by Edward Ribinskas

Tags: Akron Railroad Club, Berea, Dave McKay, Edward Ribinskas photograhs