Doyne McKinney - 1963 Picture from 40th Reunion Bio update 2009
Update 2009-12-08
As a result we spent most summers either at another University and at a summer house we had at Pass Christian, Mississippi. This was because Daddy was always writing a book and was often interrupted by people needing counseling. There were very few pscyhologists in Columbia in the 40's and 50's. I also spent my eighth grade year in Turkey attending an air force dependents' school in Ankara. This is because Daddy had a Fulbright to teach at Ankara University. I was very fortunate to travel abroad a good bit with my parents, because I was the youngest in my family and their interest and ability to travel abroad became greater as I was a teen. I went to the University Lab School through 9th grade. There was always the big decision at that school of whether to continue or transfer to Hickman. I felt cramped at the Lab School but was terrified of Hickman! I couldn't eat for the first week or so of school each year, I was so scared. After Hickman, I attended MU where I joined a sorority. With the sorority's encouragement, I became active in Student Union Activities serving as a committee chair, department chair, and then Secretary of the board. I was not a great student, but did enjoy my years. I majored in European History. I met my husband, Bill McKenzie my senior year. Bill was a graduate of Southwest High School in KC. He attended Westminster College his freshman year. His class had been bigger than the whole stduent body at West U. He chafed at it and transferred to MU the next year. He was challenged with concentrating on academics at MU and left after that year for a 4+ year stint in the Navy as a radioman. He was stationed in Inchon, Korea, and on the Oklahoma City out of Japan. When he returned to MU, he says he always got letters each semester congratulating him on good grades and another telling him he was still on scholastic probation. I went to KC after my graduation to work as a legal secretary in a small law firm. Bill and I married after he graduated from MU and before he started law school at UMKC. I stayed at the law firm for three years and then got a job as a correspondent at DataSystance, a computerized mutual funds transfer agency. I really loved this job as it entailed customer assistance was fairly cutting edge at the time. Bill and I moved to Champagne-Urbana for 4 months to establish Illinois residency and for him to study for the Illinois Bar. We had a line on a job as county prosecutor in Winchester, Illinois, where Diane Dugan Fugit's father was raiseed. After taking the bar, we traveled in Europe for 4 monhts. We had three good friends that we either sponged off of or lived around during this trip. Bill passed the bar and we moved to Winchester where Bill ran for office. I worked in a law firm in Jacksonville, the next county seat, for three years, until I had to quit to deliver our daughter, Judith, in August, 1975. I was not very happy in Winchester. It had a population of 1700. The biggest intersection was a 3-way stop! I really dreaded the thought of being an old widow there. I thought if Bill died early I could go on, but if I were old, I'd be stuck. We decided to move back to KC. Kansas City was a struggle. Prospects that Bill had tended to fade. He did work as an assistant prosecutor for Jackson County until he backed the wrong candidate and his job was not renewed. I worked a lot of the time as a legal secretary, first for a small firm in Johnson County, Kansas, and then for a big firm in downtown KC. One good event was the birth of our son Colin in 1978. At the time of my parents' deaths in 1981, things were falling apart. I think this was very good in the long haul. My oldest sister and brother wanted us to move back to Columbia to occupy our parents house. We would not have considered this if things were ducky in KC. We took our time to consider this offer, and did move back in June, 1983. This was the best move we ever made. In 1985, Bill became City Prosecutor of Columbia. He saw the position grow from barely a full-time position until now where they are considering instituting a second and court at night to handle all the cases (this will be phased in over several years, I am told). Bill retired in 2002 and occupies himself with a bagpipe band, guitar and fiddle, traveling, etc. |
