Marie “Maggie” Hicks McKinney, age 84, daughter of Henry and Hattie Hicks, was born July 7, 1930, in Henrietta, Texas. She was the last of six children: Irene, who died in infancy, Earl, Charlie, Jack and her baby brother, Clem.
Marrie attended Henrietta High School, from which she graduated May 24, 1949. Just before graduation, on Feb. 10, 1949, she married Charles “Herbert” McKinney.
Three short years later, she gave birth to her first child, Coy Eugene, followed by Charlotte Irene, both whom are deceased, Rhonda of Jefferson City, Mo., Dennis, Cecil, Julia, Lonnie and Mayoma of Houston, Mo., and Treva of Proctor, Okla. She is also survived by 19 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren.
During her life, she held numerous jobs in Missouri before moving to Texas, where she worked helping her husband log. She’d fallen in love with a quaint home outside Houston, Mo., where after a short period of time in Oregon, she lived for 25 years. She got a job at George O. White Nursery, rating and separating trees. After taking some time off following the death of her husband on Jan. 10, 1996, she want back to work and held the job until she decided to quit in 2011. The crew became a second family to Marie. She was particularly famous for her chicken dumplings and yeast rolls, which she brought to every company Christmas party.
Shortly after retirement, she moved back to a lakeside home in Park Hill, Okla., for roughly a year-and-a-half. She spent her final months living with her youngest daughter, Treva. She fought on until Jan. 11, 2015, when she passed away comfortably.
In life, Marie enjoyed cooking, scoping out yard sales, reading and crocheting. Every time a pregnancy was announced, she’d spend the next nine months on a blanket specially made for the baby.
Marie was an exceptionally kind and generous woman. She easily captured the years of everyone who had the joy of being around her. She will be remembered as the angel that she is.
Services are 10 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015, in Tahlequah, Okla., under the direction of Green Country Funeral Home.
PAID
