Jacqueline T. McKee

1931 - 2022

BLACKSTONE -Jacqueline T. McKee, beloved daughter, sister, aunt, godmother, wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother shook off her mortal coil on Nov. 29, 2022 in the peace of her own bed as she had always wished. Born in Blackstone, Massachusetts, she attended St. Theresa Grammar School where the nuns taught her French and the penmanship for which she was complimented every time she signed her name. A graduate of Blackstone High School in 1950, she recalled her senior class trip every time the insurance commercial featuring the Statue of Liberty flashed across her tv screen, adding "I stayed on the boat, I didn't go up.". A trained seamstress, she worked evenings in Providence, R.I. priding herself on taking the city bus from Providence to Woonsocket "all by herself" each night at midnight. Upon graduation she began a telephone operator's position with Bell Telephone in Woonsocket.

Jackie met and married Leo E. McKee a sailor from Altoona, Pennsylvania in 1953. They relocated from Blackstone to Dade City, Florida in 1976 where they restored and operated McKee's Motel for four years. Upon sale of this establishment, they parted ways and she purchased a home in the orange groves of north Lakeland, where she resided until 1999, when she moved to May Manor Mobile Home Park for the rest of her life. She was employed as a solderer with Teltronics first in Lakeland, and then following them to Sarasota where she and her intrepid "car pool girls" traveled 80 miles each way for ten years "without as much as a flat tire." Some of her hard earned salary was spent at weekly bingo games, earning her the moniker of "May Manor Candy Lady" known for her generosity in sharing treats with her neighbors while keeping an eye on everyone's cards!

Miss Jackie was preceded in death by her parents, Elisee Benjamin and Gladys Fitzgerald, her sisters Charlotte Holbrook, Gertrude Kane, Germaine Remillard and brothers Bernard, Lionel, Ulysses and Robert Benjamin; Leo E. McKee, a son Keith Allen, and daughter Kathleen Marie. She is survived by her youngest sister, Connie Lachance of Blackstone, children Craig, Pamela, Patricia and Rebecca; three grandsons Andrew, Paul and Thomas Green. She leaves behind six beautiful great-grandchildren: Lillian, Lucas, Harper, Gibson, Catherine and Elizabeth Green.

A private committal of cremains will take place at Queen of Angels Catholic Cemetery in Winter Park, Florida. In lieu of flowers, donations to Jackie's favorite Saint Jude's Hospital for Children in her memory or some other charity would be most welcome.