John Alton McKinley

John Alton McKinley, of Green Cove Springs, passed away peacefully on June 30, 2015. He was born on October 29, 1930, on a farm in Pitts, Georgia, the fifth child of Horace Breston and Bessie Helms McKinley. He is predeceased by his parents, four brothers - Cecil, Mac, Harold and Gerald, and his sister, Mary Fletcher. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Bettye Waide Gravley McKinley, two daughters Shelley Thompson (Tony) of Palatka and Lori Witham (Steve) of Green Cove Springs, one granddaughter Jennifer Waide Thompson of Jacksonville, and one brother Charles (Phyllis) of Orange Park. John grew up hunting, fishing, swimming and socializing with his cousins. One of their favorite past-times, and one that John never outgrew, was getting together and “telling lies” or tall tales of sunny days spent outdoors. In the early years of World War II, the family moved south from Pitts to Jacksonville. Because a smaller school would afford greater opportunities to participate in team sports, John and a group of boys from Westconnet transferred from Lee High School to Clay High School. Most days their only mode of transportation was hitchhiking. It was at Clay High that he met his high school sweetheart, Bettye Gravley. John graduated Clay High School in 1950. Later that year, he enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserves where he served for the next eight years. Following graduation he went to work at Ben Zellner’s Cities Service Garage in training as an automobile mechanic. Here he enjoyed a comradery of friendships that would last throughout their lives with Ben and Bobby Zellner, Ed Taylor, Eugene Kirker, Bill Shepard and Buck Knowles. On June 20, 1952, he and Bettye married. Three months later they purchased and moved into a house on Highland Avenue that would be their home for the next sixty-three years. A mechanic by trade, John operated his own business for several years starting out in partnership with Eugene Kirker and Melvin Wolgemuth. They operated as Blackmon Motors Service Department and later Beseler Motors Service Department leasing the service areas of local automobile dealers, Harry Blackmon and Dick Beseler. In 1967, John was recruited to teach vocational education thus beginning a second career of teaching auto mechanics at Clay High School. Seventeen years later, in 1985, he retired. After his first retirement, he enrolled in truck driving school and started a third career in trucking as an owner-operator and traveled the 48 states. Upon his third retirement in 1996, John took up gardening as a hobby. One year he was so successful with sweet potatoes his wife Bettye feared the vines would proliferate right through the back door and into the house. That summer he harvested wheelbarrow upon wheelbarrow full of potatoes. John loved people from all walks of life and was active in church, civic and fraternal organizations, serving as President of the Green Cove Springs Jaycees and Past Exalted Ruler of the Elks. He served on both the City of Green Cove Springs and Clay County Planning and Zoning Boards, as Trustee, and as a Sunday School Teacher at First Baptist Church of Green Cove Springs. John also served as a volunteer fireman for 30 plus years and at the Clay County Fair. John was a man of steadfast faith in God and a man of many talents. He loved and cared for his family and enjoyed life to the fullest – church, boating, waterskiing, fishing, camping, hunting, gardening, traveling, friendships, good music and of course his tall tales. His life was a life well lived. The family will receive friends on Tuesday, July 7, 2015, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm in the Broadus-Raines Chapel. Funeral service will be held at 11:00 am on Wednesday, July 8, 2015 in the Broadus-Raines Chapel with Dr. H. Mark Nicholson officiating. Interment will follow in Hickory Gove Cemetery. Please sign the family’s online guestbook at www.broadusraines.com. Arrangements under the care of Broadus-Raines Funeral Home, 501 Spring St., Green Cove Springs, FL 32043, (904) 284-4000