Ron McKinney

Ronald Bowman McKinney, 87, beloved husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather, entered heaven on October 6, 2025. A life-long resident of Bakersville, North Carolina, Ron served his family, his church, his nation, and his community with honor and dignity, a quiet strength and steadfast love, throughout a long life, well lived.
Ron was born at home, at the mouth of White Oak Creek, on July 27, 1938, the third of four children of Hettie Jean Bowman McKinney and Isom Hayes McKinney. Ron was educated in Mitchell County Schools, graduating from Bowman High School. After earning bachelor of science and master's degrees at Appalachian State University and doing graduate work in higher education administration at North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Ron spent his professional life educating and counseling the young people of Mitchell and Burke counties. Toward the end of his career, Ron adapted his shepherding of young students to supporting and directing older students at the collegiate level, serving as a financial aid officer and dean of student affairs at Mayland Community College.
Decades of serving students in his community came naturally to Ron after he volunteered to serve his country in the United States Air Force upon his own graduation from high school. Stationed in Spokane, Washington, between the police actions in Korea and Vietnam, Ron maintained and repaired electronic systems in B52 bombers. Returning home to Mitchell County and completing the college degree that his military service helped finance, Ron began working as a counselor back at Bowman High School and married Mary Elizabeth "Libby" Wilson, a fellow educator. Their loving marriage of fifty-nine years is an inspiration to their four sons and daughters-in-law, grandchildren and their spouses.
From the age of three when he entered the Sunbeam Sunday School Class at Bakersville Baptist Church, Ron embarked on a love of, and eventual service to, the church in general and Bakersville Baptist Church in particular. Ron served on almost every committee a small Baptist church operates and was a stalwart member of the congregation. Installed as a deacon decades ago, Ron ministered to church members and community members alike, presiding over the church's annual business meeting only a few weeks ago with his trademark humor and excitement for the future of Bakersville Baptist Church.
In retirement, Ron transitioned his skills as a public school and college administrator to the work of making Bakersville and Mitchell County stronger. An active participant in the Bakersville Improvement Group (BIG), Ron helped grow civic engagement, restore the county courthouse, repair damage from all-to-frequent floods, and promote all that the town of Bakersville has to offer residents and visitors alike. Grant writing became the focus of his volunteer work for the Mitchell Community Health Partnership, an effort that improved the lives of the people of the place he loved. A life-long Democrat, Ron was active in local politics, always putting the best interests of Bakersville, Mitchell County, and his fellow residents first.
Retirement also offered Ron the opportunity to reflect on a formative period in his life, resulting in a book titled Appalachian Boy: Stories from the Life of a Young Boy Growing Up in the Appalachian Mountains in the Nineteen Forties and Fifties. A treasure for his family, the book also sparked long, enjoyable conversations between Ron and people who remember life in Bakersville during those decades. He was especially happy that the book inspired others to be curious about small-town mountain life in the past. With stories such as "Sundays on Duck Branch," "Low-Tech Haute Cuisine," and "Take Your Tonsils and Run," Ron's memoir, along with the poetry that he loved to write, keep his voice alive for family and friends alike.
Ron is survived by his wife, Libby; four sons, Brian (Katherine) of Bakersville, Craig (Ashley) of Seven Devils, Eric (Kimberly) of Denver, North Carolina, and Alan (Monica) of Matney in Avery County; eight grandchildren, Ada, Isaac (Alexi), Zeb (Caroline), Bethany (Parker), Sarah, Lydia, Derek, and Garrett; and a great grandchild on the way, which Ron joyfully learned about recently. He was preceded in death by an infant son, Derek. Ron's unwavering love of his wife, of his family, and of his God gives us hope for our futures, the enduring gift of a life well lived.