Loretta McKinnon

1925 - 2020

Loretta Louise Harrison McKinnon
1925-2020
Loretta McKinnon died on the morning of Thursday, July 2, 2020 in Houston, Texas. The middle child of three girls, she was born on March 10, 1925 in Knoxville, Tennessee to parents Marie Louise DeMattos and Arthur Caleb Harrison.
Loretta grew up and attended school in Knoxville. An excellent student, Loretta and her older sister Marguerite Harrison [McCampbell] and her younger sister Bernadette Harrison [McMillan] attended Catholic school and were active in school and church activities. During her formative years, Loretta also learned how to sew at her mother's side, becoming a more accomplished seamstress with every year. An avid fan of Project Runway, her family knew that if she were a few years younger, she could have easily challenged any of the show's winners.
As part of the war effort, Loretta was employed in Oak Ridge, Tennessee on the campus of the facility that was crucial in the development of the nuclear bomb during World War II. Not only intelligent, she was also known for her beauty and was named Miss Atomic City during her time at the facility.
She attended the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where she met and married Angus Gillis McKinnon. The couple lived in Knoxville for many years before moving to Houston, Texas in 1954. During her children's school years, she dedicated herself to the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) program at Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Bellaire.
As Houston grew, Loretta launched a new career, turning her attention to real estate and earning her Realtor's license. She had an excellent reputation in the industry, working at various top firms in the city, and also expanded her circle of friends through real estate connections.
A staunch believer in the value of natural, organic products, in recent years Loretta nurtured a vegetable and flower garden at her home in the Houston Heights. She battled the heat, bugs and an occasional thief who would pluck a just-ripe tomato off her plants to produce and share a variety of vegetables with friends and family.
Loretta is survived by her four children: Mark McKinnon; Gaile McKinnon Proler and her children Sophia Proler [Max Boyd] and Antone Proler; Doug McKinnon and his wife Gail and their twins Nikki Browning [AJ Browning] and Troy McKinnon [Whitney]; and Steve McKinnon and his wife Sonja and their daughters Lanie McKinnon [Ian Brennick] and Barbara McKinnon [Kevin Luby]. Loretta also had four great grandchildren, Rory and Ainsley McKinnon and Jules and McKinnon Browning.
There will be a private inurnment of Loretta's ashes at College Memorial Park Cemetery, 3525 West Dallas, Houston, Texas. Friends and family who wish to honor Loretta are asked to donate to the College Memorial Park Cemetery. Loretta was interested in the cemetery's restoration, which is being spearheaded by a group of Houston citizens, including her son Mark. The College Memorial Park Cemetery, located at 3525 West Dallas, was founded in 1897. The 5.3-acre park is the burial site for freed slaves who lived in the historic Fourth Ward and is the final resting place for some of Houston's prominent leaders, including John Henry 'Jack' Yates, educator and founder of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church.
Donations in Loretta's name can be made at https://www.collegeparkcemetery.org/ or mailed to College Park Cemetery Association, P.O. Box 130037, Houston, Texas 77219.