Gordon Alan McKinzie

Gordon was born on October 3, 1936 in Orange, California to Gilbert and Bertha (nee Harwell) McKinzie. He is survived by his three children, Kara (Scott Sackett), Mark (Myha), and Eric (Monique), and his nine grandchildren, Evan, Jake, Autumn, Ryan, Matthew, Kyle, Ashley, Jenise and Reese.

Gordon grew up in Laguna Beach, California, and spent an early boyhood enjoying the hills, beaches, and waters of that idyllic area. His family moved inland to Santa Ana when Gordon was fifteen, and he graduated from Santa Ana Senior High School. He then enrolled at Claremont Men’s College and Stanford University, both institutions endowing him with full academic scholarships. He was enthralled with all aspects of aviation, and after graduation he took the first step that would culminate in a fifty-year love affair with airplanes, airmanship, and airline operations. He worked in Los Angeles as a junior engineer at Northrop Aircraft, then migrated to Dallas to help design military airplanes. However, his real dream was to be “hands on” with the latest developments in aviation, so he found what he often called his “dream job” as a flight test engineer at Edwards Air Force Base in California, where all of the exotic experimental planes were being flown. There he realized two of his most enduring wishes: to purchase his very own airplane, and to marry the most beautiful girl in the high desert, Kathleen Ahearn of Northampton, Massachusetts. The 1949 Cessna 140A came first, but he soon found he couldn’t have both, and had to sacrifice the little airplane to buy an engagement ring. His final ride in his airplane was with his fiancé in the right seat, and she remained at his side for 55 years until her passing in 2021.

In 1968 Gordon and Kathy, along with baby daughter Kara and newborn son Mark, moved from the desert to the San Francisco area, where Gordon was hired as an engineer for United Airlines. He was promoted in 1974 to a position at United’s headquarters in Chicago, and his family, now with third child Eric, settled in the bucolic Crystal Lake area close to the Wisconsin border. Gordon was a manager in Flight Operations at the height of the 1973 fuels embargo, and was given the responsibility of creating programs to help airplanes (and pilots) fly more efficiently. From Chicago the family moved to Denver, and then back to San Francisco. His job by then had expanded to evaluating new airplanes for United's growing fleet, and when the need for a new, more efficient airplane for long-distance routes arose, Gordon became a team leader in detailed concept planning at Boeing in Seattle and Airbus in Toulouse, France. Boeing won the competition for the new airliner, and United became the launch customer for the 777 airplane. Gordon was delegated to head up a “working together” team for development of the airplane, which meant moving to Seattle and setting up shop inside the Boeing facility, an unprecedented move for an airline customer to take. The airplane was delivered in 1995, but Gordon was still actively engaged in new aircraft programs, including the double-decker A380 that Airbus was proudly designing in France. The culmination of Gordon's many years of engineering involvement came in 1998, when he was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He was the first airline engineer to be inducted into this prestigious technical society.

Even in retirement, Gordon kept busy, producing a seemingly endless inventory of playhouses, outdoor decks, furniture, and custom shelving with his design and carpentry skills. All one had to do was ask, and he would happily get to work on their request, creating technical drawings and disappearing into his garage workshop.

In 2010, at the age of 72, Gordon realized another dream when he published his first novel, FATAL ASCENT.

Gordon was a true gentleman whose insight and humor touched those he loved as well as many others he met along the way. He was gracious and respectful to all, and was always available to offer words of encouragement and guidance. He was especially proud of the many occasions he was able to mentor young engineers, and was always ready with supportive references and endorsements for those seeking advancement in their field.

The family would like to extend special thanks to the staff and volunteers at Grace Manor and Kittitas Valley Hospice in Ellensburg, who lovingly cared for him in the days preceding his passing.

A memorial service will be held at Purdy & Walters Funeral Home, 409 Filbert Road in Lynnwood, on Saturday, July 19th, starting at 10:00 a.m. Interment will follow at Holyrood Cemetery, 205 NE 205th St. in Shoreline.