William Timothy McGonigle

William Timothy (Tim) McGonigle, of Middletown, and more recently Columbus, age 87, died Sunday, July 26th after enduring dementia for many years. Tim was born in Middletown on January 21, 1939, graduated from Middletown High School, and joined the US Marine Corps where he served from 1960-1964. Tim was a proud member of the Plumbers and Pipefitters Union Local 392, from which he retired.

In 1971 Tim was married to Reba McGuigan, and they had their 50th wedding anniversary in 2021.

Tim was a gentle soul who enjoyed playing golf and tinkering with anything mechanical. He reliably cared for outdoor cat colonies and he never heard a Patsy Cline song that he didn’t love. He loved the Ohio State Buckeyes, and was thrilled to have the opportunity to attend some football games with his daughter. In his younger years Tim enjoyed collecting and raising interesting trees (some seedlings borrowed from parks) in his tree nursery, swimming endless laps in the pool, and building complicated electrical devices from scratch, including a receiver attached to a satellite dish in the yard from which he could watch HBO. Some may call it piracy, we prefer to think of it as ingenuity.

During his final years, Tim was known in his assisted living community as the sweetest resident who always sang along with all of the music programming. Despite the struggles he faced with dementia, he forever remembered every word of his favorite songs.

Tim is preceded in death by his parents, Bill and Opal McGonigle and Jean and Frank Chapman, as well as his wife, Reba McGonigle. Tim is survived by his daughter, Hope (Megan) McGonigle, his granddaughters, Quinn and Jude and his sisters Sandy (Ray Dell) Dennis and Cathy (Ron) Phillips.

A graveside ceremony will take place at Woodside Cemetery and Arboretum on Saturday, August 29th at 11:00am. In lieu of flowers, you may consider a donation to a local animal rescue or shelter in memory of Tim.