Robert "Jim" McCarthy

A celebration of Life service for Robert "Jim" McCarthy will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 14, 2023 at Lawton Ritter Gray Funeral Home. 

Jim was born on July 5th, 1941, in Superior Wisconsin where he spent his youth.  In 1960 Jim enlisted in the Army as a Private and rose to the rank of NCO as a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne Division at Ft Campbell, Kentucky. Jim was later accepted to flight school at Ft Wolters Texas. As a CW2 he served his first tour in Vietnam with the 114th Assault Helicopter Division as a Red Knight.  Jim later served a tour at Fort Rucker, Alabama where he was a standardization Pilot instructor.  He was selected to be appointed a Commissioned Officer in Field Artillery and served a second tour in Vietnam as a Sky Crane Pilot.  Jim spent his final years in the Army as a Life Flight Pilot stationed in Ft Sill, Oklahoma where he retired at the rank of Major.  Jim received numerous medals during his years of service. 

Jim was an active and supportive resident of the Lawton Fort Sill, Oklahoma community where he chose to live after his military service.  He contributed to many community activities through employment and through volunteerism, from sports to arts and humanities. From 1985 until 1990, Jim was a volunteer with the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation. He was awarded an honorary membership in the Lawton Jaycees and was proud to support military events such as serving as master of ceremonies for military band performances and the annual Lawton Fort Sill Armed Services Parade. 

Jim was a member of the Southwest Oklahoma Officials Association, and he was a football and baseball official for 10 years.   Jim was the technical rules advisor for the football association for three years and for the baseball association for two years.  Jim was inducted into the Southwest Oklahoma Football Officials Association Hall of Fame in 2013. 
In his spare time on Friday nights, from 1998 through 2004, Jim enjoyed working with the Z-94 and KLAW Radio broadcast crews, first compiling game statistics and then lending his expertise of football rules to the coverage of high school football games. Jim served for many years as the stadium announcer at Cameron Stadium in Lawton, Oklahoma, announcing hundreds of football games played in that stadium by Lawton's three high school football teams.   

Jim participated as a volunteer member of the Reading Cast for the Annual Prince of Peace Easter Pageant at the Holy City of the Wichitas for over 15 years.  He was the Reading Cast Director for several of those years and gave a voice to many of the biblical characters, but his voice served the performance best when he narrated each scene in the Pageant.  
   
Jim was proceeded in death by his wife, Sharon McCarthy; parents, Jeanne and Robert McCarthy Sr, brother, Scott McCarthy; children, Twyla Fernandez, Linda Tiddark , Alan Moin; and Grandson, Christian Tiddark. He is survived by his brother, Mark McCarthy; daughters, Starla Henderson and Liz Johnson; and his son, Robert James McCarthy III (Jay); grandchildren, Alexis Penney, Lawrence Fernandez, Kiersten Johnson, Catherine Shugert, Mitch McCarthy, Kendra McCarthy, Trevor Hernandez, Treston Hernandez, Brianna Johnson, Linda Mortimer Chris Moin, Jenna Moin and Sara Moin; and many great grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. 
 

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