Mrs. Louise Jones McKinney

Some people disappear in crowded spaces. Not Louise McKinney. You could not miss her - her beauty, her lovely smile, her laugh, her witty banter, her gorgeous clothing, and her facility with the King's English. Louise stood out. She was a shining spark. An energy magnet. She created light in the darkness.

Louise was an educator, philanthropist entrepreneur and patron of the arts. An informal counselor to many, she was described recently by a hospital visitor as "mother to a thousand." Louise McKinney was delighted with the many avenues of her life. And in every path of her life, she was indeed exceptional.

Louise Jones McKinney was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the eldest child of John Lee Jones and Laura Lee Stewart Jones. She and her younger brother, Sonny (John, Jr.) were raised in a home filled with music, friends and neighbors, love and lessons about the importance of faith, compassion and integrity. This home was also filled with delicious aromas from her mother's marvelous cooking and baking, skills that somehow eluded Louise's brilliance.

And it was clear very early that Louise had a brilliant mind. She questioned everything. She wanted to know...everything. Her parents made certain that she had everything. Mrs. Jones ensured that Louise had piano lessons and was exposed to the classical arts - the ballet and the opera - as well as to many different forms of theater. Mr. Jones monitored Louise's homework, though it was hardly necessary, alternately taking her apples and potato chips or pints of ice cream and warm pecan rolls while she studied. Her parents enrolled Louise in best schools. An honors graduate of Cleveland's multiracial Glenville High School where she was part of student government, Louise then attended Flora Mather College for Women in Cleveland graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. A Greek and Latin scholar, Louise was Mather's first student in many years to win the Emma Maud Perkins Prize for excellence in classical studies.

As a member of the Antioch Baptist Church, Louise had long been aware of a handsome older boy- then young man - then man - named Samuel McKinney. Samuel's influential father, the Rev. Dr. Wade Hampton McKinney, was the church's pastor. As Samuel began to try his ministerial wings, Louise found herself in a wedding that he performed. Rev. McKinney the Younger asked her on a date; she accepted his request. Though they traveled to their destination on a yellow city bus (which did not please Louise), she found him so delightful, smart, and engaging that a 1953 wedding was soon in the offing.

The McKinney's arrived in Seattle in 1958. Louise was not the stereotype of a typical minister's wife. She was not shy and retiring, she spoke her mind, never wore hats and determined her own path. Daughters Lora-Ellen and Rhoda Eileen are the progeny of Samuel and Louise's union. Louise loved them dearly and trained them to be just like her. She frequently regretted having done so.

Once in Seattle, Louise focused her laser-like attention on elementary education, believing without a doubt that all children can learn, that all teachers can be trained to teach all children, and that all educational organizations could be structured to make learning fun for students and hold administrators strictly accountable for maintaining excellent educational systems.

To encourage community students to toward academic excellence, Mrs. McKinney created the Mount Zion Scholarship Ministry and the Mount Zion Scholarship Endowment for those students who warranted scholarships and grants-in-aid by virtue of their grade point averages. The Scholarship Ministry has often raised more funds for distribution than any in the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc. The Endowment will ensure the longevity of scholarships for years to come.

Following her retirement from the Seattle Public School District in 1994, Mrs. McKinney turned her attention to entrepreneurial pursuits. Concerned that African Americans did not have a mortuary to best meet their needs, she invested in Southwest Mortuary and became Chair of its Board of Directors. Interested in pursuits in the business community, Mrs. McKinney became a partner in and served until her death as Treasurer of The Hudson Group, which ran several airport businesses.

Her work in a number of venues in the Seattle community also brought her considerable joy. She was on the boards of directors of organizations that served seniors, persons with HIV and AIDS, and her two main foci, scholarships for youth and theater. Louise loved her 30 years on the Board of Directors for A Contemporary Theater, ten years as Co-Chair of the Community Outreach Committee of the Intiman Theater, and her role as a Founder of Town Hall, known as Seattle's community cultural center.

Yes, Louise Jones McKinney stood out. She gleamed like the sun. She shone like the moon. And she left enough life and light in her wake that we needn't worry that she left us unexpectedly. In many very important ways, she is still here.

Her husband, Rev. Samuel Berry McKinney, her daughters, Dr. Lora-Ellen McKinney of Renton and Rhoda McKinney Jones of Doylestown, PA, son-in-law Sam Henry Jones, Jr., grandson, Kent McKinney Jones, brother John Jones, Jr. of Cleveland, Ohio, a host of nieces and nephews and grand-pup Duke Ellington Jones survive Mrs. McKinney. She is also deeply missed by countless children to whom she did not give birth and many, many others.