John McKay

McKAY, John H. The Rev. Dr. John H. McKay, 82, of Bowling Green, Va., died May 31, 2011, at Mary Washington Hospital. Born February 10, 1929, in Chesterfield County, Va., the Rev. McKay was a member of Zoar Baptist Church, Locust Grove, Va. He had retired from Zoar Baptist Church in 2002, where he had served as pastor for over 14 years. He also had retired from the Department of Navy in 1994, after nine years of service with the civil service as a secretary. In his ministry of over 50 years, he had served churches in the counties of Caroline, Spotsylvania, Culpeper, Rappahannock, Hanover, Louisa, Henrico, Goochland and Orange. A 1946 graduate of Thomas Dale High School in Chester, Va., he received his B.A. degree from the University of Richmond in 1959, the M.Div. degree from the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Wake Forest, N.C., in 1964, the certificate of Clinical Pastoral Education from the School of Pastoral Care at Bowman Gray School of Medicine and Baptist Hospital, Winston Salem, N.C., in 1967, and Th.D. degree from Fredericksburg Bible Institute and Seminary in 1983. The Rev. McKay was active in the ministry of gospel music during and after his retirement from the pastorate. Since early childhood, he had played musical instruments and had appeared on both radio and television. He recorded his first album of gospel songs in 1994. Survivors include his children, John H. McKay Jr. and his wife, Gretchen, of Abbottstown, Pa., the Rev. Barbara M. Jacobs and her husband Alan, of Spotsylvania, Sherry Pfenninger and her husband, Jerry, of King George, Emily "Jeannie" Skebeck and her husband, Lenny, of Spotsylvania, Pamela Williams and her husband, Michael, of Winchester. He is also survived by six grandchildren, Robin Jacobs, Joseph Skebeck, Jacob Skebeck, Makayla Williams, Kristen Carter and Danielle Carter; several nieces, nephews, cousins and many friends. The Rev. McKay was preceded in death by his parents, Warren Lee McKay and Annie Springhill McKay; his three sisters, Helen Allen, Mabel Coleman and Grace Nunnally; his three brothers, the Rev. Clyde McKay, the Rev. Richard McKay and the Rev. J. Lewis McKay. Family visitation at the Doyne-Burger-Davis Funeral Home, in Farmville, Va., will be Thursday, June 2, 2011, from 6 to 8 p.m. The family will also receive friends from 12 to 2 p.m. on Friday, June 3, 2011, at Sylvania Heights Baptist Church in Fredericksburg, Va., prior to the service at 2 p.m., with Rev. Kenny Brooks officiating. Interment will be in Zoar Baptist Church Cemetery, in Locust Grove, Va.


This obituary was originally published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.