Beech Tree News Network

Imagine a life where in the year you were born the Titanic struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage taking over 1500 lives, and Teddy Roosevelt was shot while campaigning for president.  As you reflect back you can remember historical events such as what it was like to live during The Great Depression, recall the catastrophe of Pearl Harbor, and feel the devastation when both John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King were assassinated.  For one elder at Morgantown Care and Rehab Center she is able to do just this.
Lillie McKinney was born December 1, 1912 in the community of Silver City in rural Butler County to Otis and Clara Givens.  Along with her two brothers, Marvin and Glendale and two sisters, Exie and Ruth, Lillie grew up on a farm, where she helped her mother raise her siblings after her father passed away when she was ten years old.  Lillie married Jack McKinney and in their fifty-three years of marriage they had two sons Bobby and Don McKinney.  She continued to work alongside her husband on the farm until he died in 1987.   Lillie recalls raising tobacco, corn, chickens, cows, and a large garden.  With a twinkle in her eye she explained the first car that she ever saw and how “my horse could outrun it.” 
Lillie recalls how on a typical day she was found going about her household chores and exhibiting her distinguished quilting skills.  Her son Bobby estimates that the family continues to own approximately forty quilts that Lillie made, which have never been slept under.  Bobby is able to recall how much his mother loved being a wife and mother and states, “That was her purpose in life.”  Lillie always finds the light in life.  Her son, Bobby, recalls how his mother would travel long distances to obtain water from a spring so they could bath.  Bobby reports his mother would say, “A person can’t help being poor, but we don’t have to be dirty!”
It’s these moments that we celebrate Lillie’s life, and this past week we celebrated the wonderful life of Lillie McKinney as she reached a milestone that few will ever see.  For Lillie it may not seem that uncommon since her mother lived to reach 104 years old, but we find this to be a milestone worth celebrating to the fullest.  So once again we would like to say, “Happy 103rd Birthday Mrs. Lillie McKinney!”

Submitted by Jamie Howard