Lucille C. McKinney

1921 - 2017

Lucille Christian McKinney

Chapel Hill

Lucille Christian McKinney (Lucy), widow of George Wesley McKinney, Jr., passed away peacefully on August 14, 2017 in Cary, Wake County, North Carolina. Born Lida Lucille Christian on November 7, 1921, in Kentucky King, Harlan County, Kentucky, Lucille was the youngest child of James Cornelius (Neal) Christian and Lida Della Martin.

Lucy attended the Pine Mountain Settlement School in Pine Mountain, Kentucky, for her high school education. Along with her sisters, Lela and Ruth, she was a member of the Pine Mountain Octet that toured the Northeastern United States in 1936 and 1937. On those tours, she sang traditional music from the mountains and performed the Kentucky Running Set, a historic dance believed to have originated at the Pine Mountain School, at the White House for President Franklin Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt at a dinner they held for Admiral Richard Byrd.

Together with the other members of the Octet, she performed again in Dearborn, Michigan, at a special event planned by Henry Ford and his family.

After leaving Pine Mountain, Lucy enrolled at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky, where she met and married her beloved husband of seventy-two years, George W. McKinney, Jr. She received her B. A. from Berea in 1943, majoring in both Drama and Economics. In her Senior year, she held the starring role as Widow Cagle in Berea's senior play, Sun-Up. Lucy was a dynamic, charismatic, and effective homemaker and active community member. She was a devoted mother to her 3 children, an enthusiastic grandmother of 8 grandchildren, and a loving and engaged great-grandmother of 8 great-grandchildren. Active in community affairs, she served as co-Chair with her husband for the United Way of Richmond, Virginia. As President of the Westhampton School PTA during the turbulent late 1950's, her work was critical in keeping that school open and peaceful when it became the first public school in Richmond, Virginia, to be integrated.

Lucy embraced life with a characteristic warmth, grace, and enthusiasm that were her trademarks. A gifted athlete and musician, she loved traveling and dancing with her husband, playing golf and bridge, and sharing time with their friends in Charlottesville, VA, as well as Fearrington Village and Carolina Meadows in Chapel Hill, NC. Her love for her children, her grandchildren, her great-grandchildren, and her nieces, nephews, in-laws, and cousins was limitless, and she expressed that love in large and small ways throughout her life.

She was predeceased by her husband George in 2015; her sisters Ruby Downs, Lela Meador, Ruth Beaumont, and Golden Edith Christian; and her half-brother Robert Phillips. She is survived by 3 loving children: George Wesley McKinney, III and his wife, Marie, of Santa Rosa, CA; Mary Christine Schweitzer, preceded in death by her husband, Robert, of Incline Village, NV; Ruth Ann McKinney and her husband, Ray West, of Chapel Hill, NC, and Charleston, SC; 8 grandchildren: Jeanne McKinney (Gary Held) of San Francisco, CA; Susan McKinney Oliver (Dave) of Oak Ridge, TN; Eric Schweitzer (Traci) of Davie, FL; Carolyn Schweitzer of Villa Park, IL; Bret McKinney Gerbe of Austin, TX; Lynda Christian Gerbe (Deon McCormick) of Durham, NC; Matthew West (Brandi) of Charleston, SC; Ashlie West of Durham, NC; and 8 great grandchildren: Jamison Wesley Gluyas, Ryan Edward Wilson, Elijah Oliver, and John Oliver of Oak Ridge, TN; Kendall Schweitzer and Conner Schweitzer of Davie, FL; and Matthew Howard West, Jr., and Calder Ray West of Charleston, SC.

A memorial celebration in loving honor of Lucy is planned for September 4, 2017 at the family cemetery in Ghent, West Virginia. Memorial gifts in her name may be made to the George and Lucille C. McKinney Service Award at Berea College, CPO 2216, Berea, Kentucky, 40404.