Former V.I. National Guard Adjutant General Cleave A. McBean Sr is being remembered as a career military servicemember, ready to take on a leadership role when called upon. Born on April 18, 1948, McBean died April 23 at the age of 78.
McBean assumed the role of leader of the Guard in June 2000, replacing Adjutant General Mario A. Romney. At the Government House installation ceremony, then-Gov. Charles Turnbull called McBean “hardworking, diligent and a courteous person.”
Over the years since joining the military in 1977, McBean took on several and various roles, from signal platoon leader, to training officer, to field service company commander, and senior instructor at the V.I. National Guard Academy, to battalion commander, military support officer, and deputy territorial area commander of the V.I. Army National Guard.
That background served him well when, in 2000, the new adjutant general played a dual role as both head of the Guard and executive director of the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency. Current Adjutant General Kodjo Knox-Limbacker praised his predecessor for setting “the standard for the integrated civil-military readiness we strive for today.”
McBean retired after 29 years of service on Dec. 31, 2004, making way for the appointment of Col. Eddy Charles.
Funeral services are scheduled for May 22 at Holy Family Church in Anna’s Retreat at 9 a.m., followed by interment at the Eastern Cemetery in Smith Bay.
