Lower Moreland's Clay McQueen Remembered As 'True Community Servant'

LOWER MORELAND, PA — The Lower Moreland community lost a dedicated servant when Clay McQueen passed away last weekend.

McQueen, 55, who served as the commissioner representing Ward 3, died Nov. 20 after a five-year battle with cancer.

Those who knew McQueen say they will miss him greatly.

“All of us in the Lower Moreland Township organization offer our heartfelt condolences to the McQueen family,” Lower Moreland Township Manager Christopher Hoffman wrote to Patch.

Hoffman said McQueen was a top-notch public servant and volunteer whose dedication was “always apparent, particularly in the instances which required the most thoughtful and delicate
care.

“I am grateful for having had the opportunity to work with Clay in this capacity and to get to know him along the way,” Hoffman stated.

Last month, the township announced that McQueen would be stepping down from his position effective Oct. 12, and that the township was seeking to appoint a Ward 3 commissioner to serve
out the remainder of McQueen’s post through December 23.

McQueen was a dedicated family man, married to his wife, Kathy, for 28 years. The couple have two children: Kenny, 25, who goes to school and also volunteers with the Bryn Athyn Fire Co., and Megan, 21, who attends college in Pittsburgh and also serves as an EMT.

Kathy McQueen said she and her husband had moved to Lower Moreland Township from Bryn Athyn back in 2009. She said McQueen flirted with the idea of running for U.S. Congress before he decided on a Lower Moreland Township commissioner run in 2015 instead, since a local elected position would jibe more with his family and work commitments in this area. McQueen ended up winning his race, and was eventually reelected to another term on the board.

Sadly, it was just after McQueen became reelected that the cancer returned.

Kathy said her husband was an extraverted individual who enjoyed interacting with constituents but also thrived on working with township staff, especially the police department.

She said McQueen always wanted to be a police officer, which is one of the reasons he developed a close relationship with Lower Moreland Police Chief David Scirrotto, and ended up working well with Lower Moreland's police department in his capacity as township commissioner.

“The whole safety, security realm he’d really been into,” Kathy told Patch in an interview.

By day, McQueen worked for a company creating master key systems for large organizations, like hospitals and schools, something that fell in line with his strong interest in all things security, his
widow said.

“That sort of public safety, fire and ambulance and police work, and general safety-security, he sort of loved that whole umbrella,” Kathy said.

Kathy joked that her husband was much more extroverted than she and their two children, which worked out very well for his role as township commissioner, since he relished the opportunity to interact with neighbors and constituents.

McQueen was also successful at conducting township business, Kathy said, since he was a “pretty thick-skinned individual” who was always “cool under pressure, able to answer questions, always had a good head on his shoulders.”

“He was a guy they [constituents] knew they could go to,” Kathy said.

Kathy said her husband was first diagnosed with colon cancer in the summer of 2016. He was just a couple months past his 50th birthday at the time, so he hadn’t yet gotten that recommended
initial colonoscopy that doctors advise around that age, and instead got the test done because he was symptomatic.

McQueen ended up going into remission following radiation, chemotherapy treatment and surgery from the summer of 2017 to the fall of 2018, but unfortunately the cancer came
back. He underwent liver surgery but doctors didn’t end up getting all the cancer, and tumors were soon discovered elsewhere, Kathy said. McQueen was eventually given a terminal diagnosis.

In addition to his wife and children, others in the Lower Moreland community are also expressing sadness at McQueen’s loss.

Joe Canale, the commissioner representing Ward 4, credited McQueen with being the person who got him involved in local politics.

Canale said he and McQueen were fellow firefighters at the Bryn Athyn Fire Co., where McQueen had been involved since he was around 16 years old.

“All around community servant,” was how Canale described McQueen. “All around good guy, family man, worked hard."

Canale said McQueen was a wonderful commissioner who always had the community's best intentions at heart.

“He was always there to make the right decision, not the easy decision,” Canale said. “He was always level-headed.”

McQueen was a sitting township commissioner when Canale decided to run for Ward 4 when Canale’s predecessor, ironically, died in his 50s from cancer while he was serving on the board.

At the fire department, McQueen held various ranks, and even eventually attained the position of captain, Canale said.

Kathy, McQueen's widow, said she appreciates the community’s support at this time, and said her husband will be greatly missed.

A public funeral service has been scheduled for Dec. 29 beginning at 4 p.m. at the Bryn Athyn Cathedral. Kathy said a private interment for family members only will follow the public service, which is also planned to be live-streamed.