| McKINNEY, Willie Mona (Ralls): 13 Sep 1907 - 1 Nov 2003
Source: online newspaper archive
Sapulpa Daily Herald, Sapulpa, Oklahoma, November 4, 2003
Willie Ralls McKinney, 96, died Saturday, Nov. 1, 2003. She was born Sept. 13, 1907 in Hartshorne to Arvella Smith Ralls and Jerome Ralls. She moved to the Sapulpa area as a small child. Willie attended Sapulpa High School and was the captain of the girls basketball team and the girls softball team. Willie met Vernard McKinney, the love of her life, during their high school years. Vernard referred to Willie as his cave woman in their high school yearbook. Willie married Vernard McKinney Feb. 28, 1926 and that partnership lasted 58 years. In 1947, Willie became a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Sapulpa. That association has lasted 56 years. In 1946 Willie and her long-time friend Virginia Collins opened the Nancy Kay Shoppe using the first names of their daughters. Their partnership lasted 33 years. Willie's philosophy on life was that you should be a friend, and she had many; you should live each day with a positive attitude, and she did; you should be accepting, and she accepted with such grace; and that you should help others. These attributes were most notable during the last years of her life when she brightened the lives of so many residents of The Gardens and Ranch Terrace Nursing Home. She will be sorely missed. She was preceded in death by her husband, Vernard, in 1984. Survivors are one daughter, Kay McKinney Hendricks, of Sapulpa; granddaughter, Kim Hendricks Ritter, and husband, John, of Houston, Texas; grandson, Brent Ronald Hendricks, and wife, Kate Bernheimer Hendricks, of Goshen, Mass.; great-grandchildren, Kacy Ritter and Perry Ritter, of Houston, and niece, Doris Henry-Beck, of Sapulpa. A celebration of her life will be held at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2003 at the First Presbyterian Church in Sapulpa with the Rev. Dr. John Nelson officiating. Entombment will follow at Green Hill Cemetery Mausoleum in Sapulpa under the direction of Smith Funeral Home. Pallbearers are Del Henry, Dick Hermes, Lon Jackson, Jerry Naifeh, Sam Naifeh III and Wesley Vinyard. Honorary pall bearers are Tom Allen, John Bingman, Thayles Cornwell, T. J. Kennedy, Ed Livermore, Claude Masters and Louis Stuart. The family has requested that friends who wish may make donations to the First Presbyterian Church in lieu of flowers.
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