Dear Bill, 

Thank you for leaving behind such a beautiful legacy in the form of a family that I have grown to know and love! You are far from forgotten

 Fr. Steve's Ordination day.
 This day was one of the happiest days of our lives, as anyone would know. Fr. Steve had desided to become a priest after 5 years working as a lawyer in the Justice Department. Bill and I loved going up to Emittsburg, the home of St. Mary's Seminary to visit with him. 

 Dr. Keats was kind enough to dedicate Christendom Colleges preformance of  Nickolas Nickleby to the memory of Bill. As Bill and I so loved this work of Dickens. 

Guest Book Entries from the Northern Virginia Daily

 For William Francis “Bill” McGraw

 Devoted and loving Husband, Father, Grandfather, Friend and Loyal Son of the Church

March 19, 2012

I am very sorry to hear about the death of our friend Bill McGraw. This is very sad news for our family, whom have all been friends of the McGraws for a long time. We will miss him. We pray for the repose of his soul, and offer our prayers and sympathy to the entire McGraw family. God bless you all.

March 19, 2012

The Zapiain family expresses its sincerest condolences to the McGraws. We will always remember you and the important role you played in our coming together. Our thoughts and prayers are with you especially at this time.

~ Gerry Zapiain,  Woodbridge, Virginia

March 20, 2012

Dear Onalee and all the family,
My thoughts and prayers are with each of you during this difficult time. Your family has been a huge blessing to me for the last 25 years. God bless you all!

~ Maria Cunningham, Fairfax, Virginia

March 20, 2012

Dearest McGraws-Clarks, may that giant of a Man rest in God's Peace, and may Our Lady, Help of Christians, Virgo Veneranda, continue to guide and bless you and yours in the Abundance and Grace of Her Holy Son, Our Lord and Savior

~ Andrew Armstrong, Front Royal, Virginia

March 20, 2012

All my prayers and love to Onalee and all the children and grandchildren. You were a blessed family, for sure, having your husband and dad. I remember how much I was impressed by his kindness and gentility when I first met him years ago.
With love,
 ~ Mickey Krebs

March 20, 2012

A great man has gone on to His maker. His greatness is measured in his faith, his children, and his Catholic legacy. May God grant peace to his family as they cope with his loss.

~ Mary Anne O'Hare, Fairfax Station, Virginia

March 20, 2012

Bill will be missed, truly. I have tremendous respect for him, both in his life and the dignity he maintained through his suffering and death. May he, and all the faithful departed rest in peace.

~ Maggie Elliott, Front Royal, Virginia
 

March 20, 2012

May Our Lord and Our Beautiful Mother welcome Mr. McGraw to the Land of No Sadness. May They console and guide his family here on earth.....

~  Gabrielle Tuttle, Front Royal, Virginia

March 20, 2012

We were sorry to read of your loss. He was a great man. May he finally hear the words that we all long to hear. "Well done, good and faithful servant. Now enter into the joy of My Father's house."

~  Mark & Pauline Gallagher, Lancaster, California

March 20, 2012

I will greatly miss Bill and the wonderful example he gave to me. It was an honor and a blessing to help care for this wonderful man.

~ Deanna Turner, Front Royal, Virginia

March 20, 2012

I've been having my family and students prayer for Bill both in his last days and for the repose of his soul and comfort of his family. Rest assured many at Christendom College have been praying for you all!

~ Eric Jenislawski, prof. of theology, Front Royal, Virginia

March 20, 2012

I am very sorry to hear about the death of our longtime friend Bill McGraw. This is very sad news for our whole family, whom have all been friends for a very long time. We will miss Mr. McGraw very much. We pray for the repose of his soul, and offer prayers for and sympathy to Onalee and to the entire McGraw family. God bless you all.

~  Matthew Whitehead, Falls Church, Virginia

March 20, 2012

He indeed has left a beautiful legacy with his family and Christendom College. May his soul rest in peace and may Our Lady of Sorrows comfort all who mourn his death.

~ Gloria Falcao Dodd, Dayton, Ohio

March 21, 2012

I am sorry for the loss of Mr. McGraw, he was a wonderful man and a great host when I lived with the family for a few weeks when I was an intern in D.C. I will offer a Mass for the repose of his soul.

~ Fr. Ben Cameron, Auburn, Kentucky

March 21, 2012

Mary Alice and I have known Bill McGraw and his dear wife Onalee and their children since 1981. Both Bill and Onalee were very important in the founding and sustaining of Christendom College. They opened their home in Falls Church to important meetings of the Board of Directors where they played gracious host and hostess, and Bill always offered important insights and caveats as the Board developed Christendom's policies. Bill was a strong supporter of Warren Carroll in keeping Christendom free from all Federal entanglements, for which we can be especially thankful today. Mary Alice and I were delighted when they moved from Falls Church to become our neighbors on Berbusse Lane. Theirs was a friendship we treasured and hope to continue in the Life of the World to Come. Bill & Onalee McGraw gave the Church a priest in his son Steve and strong Catholic families from his daughter Laura and his other son Tom. Bill lived a full life as a devout and orthodox Catholic. May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, rest in peace.

~ Robert Rice, Front Royal, Virginia

March 22, 2012

Dear Tom and family,
My sympathy to all of you at this sad time. God Bless You and give you comfort.
(Jessie @ Christendom College)  ~ Jessie Wines, Chester Gap, Virginia

March 22, 2012

~ Lorena Echeverria, San Jose, California

March 22, 2012

One of my great memories of my college years was the wonderful hospitality shown by Mr. McGraw and his family allowing me to live with them during a Summer internship. Now living in North Dakota, I hadn't know of his connection to this State and feel a new and blessed connection. Our family will certainly keep him and the extended McGraw family in our prayers.

~ Paul O'Donnell, Fargo, North Dakota

March 23, 2012

To the family. Losing someone who has being a part of your life for so many years must be very difficult. May it help to ease the hurt you feel now to know that others care and are thinking of you at this sad time. With deepest sympathy. - Psalms 61:3

March 27, 2012

Just another comment, if I may: Simply, Mr. McGraw was so kind... so uncommonly kind.

~ Gerry Zapiain, Woodbridge, Virginia

March 30, 2012

A faithful Catholic. My simpathies to Mrs. MacGraw, Laura and Dan, Fr. Steve, Tom and Heather and all the grandchildren. Will pray for you that He may comfort you in his parting. God bless!

~  Maria Echeverria, San Jose, California

 I was so excited to be at the beach again in California. I asked our friends (one of my best friends in College Mimi Reece Vondersack and her husband Bob) who where driving us through Carmel to stop and let us have a picture on the beach even though we were not dressed for the occation. What I love about this picture is that is shows what a good sport my dear Bill was. He was not exactaly thrilled to have our picture taken with him in a concervative eastern style sports coat at the beach. But as so many times in our 48 year marriage he would go along because it made me happy. This has turned out to be one of my very favorite pictures of Bill and me together.
Thanks to Torkild and Carole Christensen for sending me this picture digitally. 

Tribute to William F. McGraw. Esq.

Board of Directors 1977-1998

by Warren Carroll, Ph. D.

Founding President, Christendom College

Among the very first people with whom I talked about my project of establishing Christendom College, long before it became a reality, were Bill and Onalee McGraw. I had known them as faithful readers of TRIUMPH magazine and members of a group, in which my wife and I and the distinguished Dr. Sean O’Reilly participated, who met periodically to discuss Catholic issues and try to apply TRIUMPH’s guidance to them. Bill and Onalee and Dr. O’Reilly were the core of Christendom Educational Corporation’s first Board of Directors. Onalee was the first Chairman of our Board.

Bill, a lawyer in the Department of the Interior, already had a considerable reputation as a fighter for good education. He had been so frustrated in this fight in Montgomery County, Maryland that he moved to northern Virginia, where he found conditions somewhat better and the vision of Christendom College particularly attractive. He stayed with us every step of the way until now, our longest serving Board member and the only survivor of the original Board. In our early days a number of board meetings were actually held in his home. 

Bill McGraw is a man who, as the saying goes, “puts his money where his mouth is.” Not only has he been a regular and substantial contributor to the College during all the years since it was first projected, but also he has sent all his three children to us. His daughter, Laura, is married to a Christendom alumnus; His older son, Steve, is studying for the priesthood; and his younger son, Tom, works for the College’s Development Office.  Bill, Onalee, Laura, Steve, and Tom are a veritable paradigm of a “Christendom family.” We look forward to begin educating Bill’s grandchildren before many more years have passed. 

Bill McGraw’s devoted service did much to bring Christendom College into being and to keep it functioning in the difficult years. He deserves the remembrance and gratitude of its people always.

Be It Resolved

William F. McGraw has been a director of the Christendom Education Corporation since its beginning. During his time on the Board he has been faithful friend, a candid advisor and genial companion to all who have had the good fortune to serve with him.

 The obstacles facing the newly minted Christendom College were daunting but Bill never wavered in his conviction that the work must go forward. When perils appeared, as they often did, he remained steadfast. When successes were granted he shared in the joy but kept a clear on the difficult road ahead. His unswerving determination that the College survive and prosper has been a constant inspiration to his colleagues. His very presence has been a reminder that with God all things are possible.

We extend our thanks and affection to Bill McGraw whose place in the history of the College is secure. We wish him good health and welfare. We ask, through our Savior, Jesus Christ, that he, his wife, Onalee, and his family receive abundant graces and blessings now and in the future.

Adopted by the Board of Christendom Educational Corporation September 11, 1998. 

March 19, 2012

William F. “Bill” McGraw, 93, died on Sunday, March 18, in his home, surrounded by family.

Married for 48 years to his wife, Onalee, Bill was the father of three Christendom alumni, and grandfather of two current students.

When Christendom was being formulated in the minds of Dr. Warren Carroll, back in the mid-1970s, both Bill and Onalee McGraw were very involved and were among the first supporters of the College, with Onalee serving as the first Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the Christendom Educational Corporation.

Bill served on the College’s Board for 19 years, and was an invaluable asset to the College during that time.

Bill, who earned his law degree from the University of North Dakota, spent most of his working career in D.C., where he joined the Board of Contract Appeals of the U.S. Department of the Interior, and eventually served as Chief Administrative Judge until his retirement in 1992.

“He faithfully served the College as board member and took his duties very seriously,” Executive Vice President Mark McShurley said. “As a lawyer, he brought an much-valued expertise to the board, playing an important role in the earlier years of the college. He and his family will be in the College community’s thoughts and prayers.”

He is survived by his wife, Onalee McGraw; three children, Laura McGraw Clark of Front Royal, Father Stephen McGraw, a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Arlington, VA, and Tom McGraw of Manassas, VA; and fifteen grandchildren.

A Rosary will be held on Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m. at Maddox Funeral Home and the family will receive friends following the service until 9:00 p.m.

A Mass of Christian burial will be held on Friday at 1:30 p.m. at St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church in Front Royal, offered by Father Stephen McGraw. Interment will follow in Panorama Memorial Gardens in Waterlick. A reception will follow in the fire hall located on Commerce Avenue. All are invited to attend.

William Reynolds McGraw was born in Grafton, ND on October 19, 1918. He was named William, after his father, and Reynolds, after his mother Johanna (Reynolds being her maiden name). He was the youngest of three children (two older sisters, Irene and Caroline. He was an altar server, a young scholar, and an athlete who was well liked by many. As a kid, Dad’s nickname was “Bud” and when he was older, everyone called him “Bill.” The McGraw home was a humble one at the time. They had no electricity, and no indoor plumbing. When I used to complain about being cold sometimes, my dad would say, “Well, you don’t know cold until you have to use the outhouse in the middle of the night, during a North Dakota winter, and the outhouse is on the edge of your back yard.”

From a very young age, Dad was devoted to his Father and Mother. Although young William was named after his father, he was not “junior” because his father’s middle name was “Francis.” His father was a devout Irish Catholic. Dad used to say that while his family growing up did not pray the Rosary every day, they always did pray it during Lent. Dad would be outside playing with all the neighborhood children, and during Lent all three McGraw kids would be called in “early” to pray the family Rosary. Dad said it was hard to go inside, but their father would have it no other way. When Dad was just 11 years old, his father died from tuberculosis, a very painful death. His Father died on a Sunday during March in 1930. With the small life insurance policy, the family was able to put electricity into the house, but not indoor plumbing. A few years later, when Dad received Confirmation, he chose the name “Francis” and used it as his middle name ever since. I always thought he had done this because he simply liked the name Francis. Only now do I realize that indeed he liked the name Francis, and was devoted to St. Francis of Assisi, but he was also honoring and imitating his beloved father.

Young William had learned at a very young age, that while life was good, it was also serious. Dad worked his way through college, and eventually entered law school at the University of ND. During WWII, he was called into the Army. He was about to be deployed when the war ended. During the Korean War, Dad was recalled to Active Duty, this time as a lawyer. Working for JAG was a pretty intense job. Dad told us many stories about life from that time period. One in particular that always stood out to me was when his supervisor once tried to bully him into signing off on an apparently false statement concerning an inventory. The supervisor told my dad that if he continued to refuse to sign the statement, he could be sent overseas to the Korean warzone. Dad replied, “I’m not afraid of being sent to Korea, and don’t you ever forget it.”

After the Korean War ended, Dad set up a small private law practice in Washington DC. One of his best friends in DC was Ralph Elliot, an accountant, who had hired a temp secretary from California, who was a second year graduate student in the Political Science Ph.D. program at Georgetown University. The temp Secretary could type over 60 words per minute, and Ralph knew my dad needed a secretary, and could pay her more than she was making at the temp agency. The temp Secretary’s name was Onalee. I once asked my dad when he fell in love with my mom. He told me, pretty much from the first moment she walked through his door. As her new boss, Dad was able to suggest all kinds of things, such as long coffee breaks in the morning, office lunches, and later . . .  dinner. It was not long before things were getting serious. But there was a potential concern for these two to figure out. The young lady from California was not Catholic, in fact, thanks to some “interesting” modern philosophy classes taken during her undergraduate studies, she was on her way to no longer believing in the divinity of Christ. In the final days of Dad’s life, I came to understand better than ever before, the dynamic of what took place when Mom and Dad first met. “No one I knew before, ever talked like Bill,” my mom would say. “No one could speak the truths about life, about Christianity like he could.” The two of them both loved to read, and after only three months, mom was heading off to Europe for a long-planned trip with her girlfriends. Dad wrote her letters while she was overseas, and gave her three books to read: C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity, and GK Chesterton’s Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man. The letters Dad wrote to Mom showed a profound respect and understanding of human dignity, and the books he had selected for her to read on her trip, showed her the ultimate truths of Christianity and Catholicism which were the source of that respect. Dad really had Mom’s attention now, and she came back from Europe thinking that she might eventually marry this man. They were married before the year was out. “There was simply no one like him,” my mom said, over and over again during those last few days we all spent together.

Dad used to remind me that St. Thomas More (my patron saint) was a very funny and cheerful man, but would often contemplate the four last things: death, judgment, heaven. and hell. As a kid, I couldn’t really understand the possibility of someone contemplating those things, and still being cheerful, but Dad did. He always knew where he’d been. And he always knew where he was going.

Like St. Thomas More, my dad knew the importance of contemplating the four last things, and along with witnessing the death of his father at a young age, perhaps this is why he prayed for a holy death. We have known for several months now, that this might be the last year of Dad’s life. This day, that we had feared for so long, was finally coming. But somehow, when we arrived at his bedside last Friday, just one week ago, the fear was not there. There was my brother, to administer to him the last Sacraments. There was my mother who had taken such good care of him. There was my sister to pray with him and remind him of all the wonderful things he had done for our family. There was his son-in-law, reading the Psalms in a calm voice in the background. There was his daughter-in-law always working quietly behind the scenes helping and caring. There were all of his caregivers (some of them his own grandchildren) and neighbors, who had shown him so much love during these difficult days. There were his 15 grandchildren, sad and confused, but seeing before their eyes a man yet again setting the example before us. “Grandpa was just a little ahead of us in line,” we told them. And in our comforting of the grandkids, and our attempts to explain to them why it was ok, and that Grandpa was going to meet Jesus, and not have to suffer any more on earth, we comforted ourselves.

During those final days, Dad received all the last Sacraments. He received Anointing of the Sick. He received Holy Communion. And when my brother, Fr. Steve asked him if he would like to go to Confession, My father, who had barely spoken a word all day, clearly and emphatically said: “YES.” During the Masses said at the foot of his bed, several days in a row, he was asked during the Mass, to make, if possible, a profession of the truths of the Catholic Faith. The same truths we speak every Sunday, and which I had heard him say, as I sat next to him during Mass from the time I was a child. Again, although he had barely said a single audible word all day, he clearly stated his response: “I DO.”

My father once told my sister that he wanted to die on a Sunday. This might seem a bit unusual, except when you remember that his own father had also died on a Sunday in March, and almost certainly during lent. My dad had honored and imitated his father in life, it made sense he wanted to imitate him in death. God granted his wish, and his prayer to die this holy death.

My wife and I have a devotion to St. Therese, the Little Flower of Jesus. We were married on her feast day which is October 1. St. Therese, like my grandfather, died of tuberculosis, a very painful death. As she lay suffering and dying, a sister, greatly grieved at seeing [Sister Therese] so ill exclaimed: “Oh, how sad is life.” Saint Therese at once corrected her, saying: “Life is not sad, but on the contrary most joyful. If you said ‘How sad is our exile,’ I should understand you. It is erroneous to give the name, ‘life,’ to that which must end. Only to the things of Heaven, to that which shall never know death, should the true name of ‘life’ be given; and in this signification life is not sad but joyful--joyous exceedingly!...”

May the soul of William Francis McGraw, beloved husband, father, grandfather, relative, neighbor, and friend, and all the faithful departed, rest in peace, Amen.

William Francis "Bill" McGraw (1918-2012)

William "Bill" Francis McGraw, 93, of Front Royal, passed away Sunday, March 18, 2012, at his home.

A Mass of Christian burial will be held on Friday at 1:30 p.m. at St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church in Front Royal, conducted by Father Stephen McGraw with additional priests concelebrating. Interment will follow in Panorama Memorial Gardens in Waterlick.

Mr. McGraw was born October 19, 1918, in Grafton, ND, son of the late William F. and Johanna Reynolds McGraw. He received a law degree from the University of North Dakota and served in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corp immediately following WWII. For a few years, he was in private law practice in Washington, D.C. during which time he met and married his wife for the next 48 years, Onalee. Later, he would join the Board of Contract Appeals of the U.S. Department of the Interior, eventually serving as Chief Administrative Judge until his retirement in 1992. In 1977, Bill and his wife Onalee were among the founding board members of Christendom College, with Bill remaining on the board for 19 years. In 1994, Bill and Onalee moved from McLean, VA to retire in Front Royal, where they have been parishioners at St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church ever since.

He is survived by his wife, Onalee McGraw; three children, Laura McGraw Clark of Front Royal, Father Stephen McGraw, a Catholic priest of the Diocese of Arlington, VA, and Tom McGraw of Manassas, VA; and fifteen grandchildren.

A Rosary service will be held on Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m. at Maddox Funeral Home and the family will receive friends following the service until 9:00 p.m.

Memorial contributions may be made to Christendom College, 134 Christendom Dr., Front Royal, VA 22630. 

Published in Northern Virginia Daily on March 20, 2012