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Jesse Dean “Tommy” McKinney went to be with his Lord and Savior on Monday, April 29, 2019 after an extended illness. Tommy was born December 26, 1929 in Washington, OK. His parents, Mirdie Mae and Jesse William McKinney, raised him along with one brother and three sisters on their family farm.
Tommy always excelled and enjoyed all sports. He played basketball and was also a pitcher on his high school’s baseball team. After high school graduation he was a pitcher in the Sooner League in 1949 and 1950 which was the farm team for the New York Giants.
Mary Lou and Tommy met while he was playing ball in Lawton, OK. They were married September 23rd, 1950, and lived in Alexandria, LA while Tommy served in the US Air Force during the Korean War. While serving, he continued playing baseball and received the Sportsman of the Year Award by the US Air Force.
He graduated from East Central State College in Ada, OK and the family moved to Pasadena, TX for his teaching position in Pasadena Independent School District. He taught math, drafting, and woodshop for 12 years while continuing his own postgraduate education at the University of Houston where he attained his Master’s degree in Business Administration. He then worked as a school administrator and retired from Pasadena ISD after a 37-year career.
Hobbies included anything involving sports, from Pee Wee league through professional level in baseball, basketball, and football. He played, he coached, and he was a spectator. He passed that love of sports to his three children and their children. Tommy also enjoyed woodworking, gardening, and anything involving the family. Tommy is known for his knuckleball, which he taught to all of us, and his dry sense of humor, which we’ve all enjoyed. His favorite books were The Bible and Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary. We always said, “Daddy was the only person we knew who read the dictionary for fun.” It paid off because he was a whiz with words.
Tommy was a deacon at South Main Baptist Church in Pasadena and taught 8th grade Sunday school for 20 years. Tommy and Mary Lou were married 68 years and he is survived by his wife Mary Lou McKinney and their three children: son Michael and his wife Lou Ann of Bryan, TX; daughter Janice LeVias and her husband Jerry of Houston, TX; and son Mark and his wife Janis of Pearland, TX. He is survived by grandchildren Stephen, Seth, Sean, Jacob, Kelsey, and Tyler, and twelve great grandchildren. Tommy is also survived by his sister Jo Ann Wood of Blanchard, OK.
Visitation will be Sunday, May 5, from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm at Rosewood Funeral Home Chapel, 3939 Pasadena Boulevard, Pasadena, TX 77503. Further details at www.Rosewood.cc. Funeral services will be Monday, May 6, 2019, at 12 noon at South Main Baptist Church, 4300 East Sam Houston Parkway South, Pasadena, TX 77505.