Dolores Eleanor (McKinney) Kinkead, age 89, of Wichita, KS, died Saturday March 25, 2023, at the Catholic Care Center, Bel Aire, Kansas.
Dolores was retired from psychiatric nursing at Via Christi Regional Medical Center: St. Francis. She was preceded in death by her husband of 53 years, Donald B. Kinkead. She is survived by; a daughter, the Rev. Angela Gay Kinkead of Charleston, W.Va.; and a son, Sterling Dean Kinkead of Wichita.
Dolores was born April 21, 1933, in Sligo, Pennsylvania, she was the daughter of John Delbert McKinney and Zelma Arrie (McGinnis) McKinney. She was one of 23 in the 1951 graduating class of Sligo (PA) High School where she played Basketball, sang in the Chorus, and played alto sax in the Band. Following high school, she took a summer job as an attendant at Warren (PA) State Hospital. By fall, she had moved to Pittsburgh, living in a boarding house with high school friends and strangers who became life-long friends. She worked downtown for Bell Telephone before becoming a long distance teletype operator for the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA) at their headquarters. A highlight of her four years in Pittsburgh was as a member and leader of the Young Adult Group at Smithfield Methodist Church in the midst of the business district. Weekday dinners, worship, and social events created another group of life-long friends, including at least 10 couples who married, including Dolores and Don. Between 1955 and 1985, Dolores and her family’s addresses included East Brady, Mars, Greensburg, and Jeannette, Pennsylvania; and North Tonawanda, New York. Throughout these years, she worked as a Home-Party demonstrator of cosmetics, as a Nurse’s Aide at St John’s Lutheran Home in Mars; as a florist’s assistant, in home child-care, and selling cleaning products door-to-door, with both children as “sales associates”. She concluded her Pennsylvania years as a retail clerk with JC Penney Co., and Joseph Horne Co., both at Greengate Mall.
In 1985, she and Sterling Dean joined Don in Wichita, KS. Don had been living there since 1983, working at Love Box Co. and enjoying being active at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church. Each Sunday, after church, the pastor allowed Don to use his office, to call Dolores and Sterling Dean long-distance in New York. These weekly calls were an essential lifeline. When the family was reunited in Wichita, they immediately joined St. Paul’s.
One reason for delaying a move to Wichita, was Dolores’ realization of a life-time dream to become a nurse. At the age of 50, she began the Licensed Practical Nurse program at an area Vocational School near Niagara Falls. She completed the 2 yr. course, passed her NY and Kansas State Boards at the age of 52, just in time to move to Wichita. During this time, Sterling Dean worked as a Certified Nursing Assistant in Buffalo, which he continues to do at Ascension Via Christi: St. Francis.
The Kinkead family enjoyed vacationing. Don was the planner and Dolores provided the wild imagination and sense of adventure. Longer vacations to other states alternated with Pennsylvania destinations, often a series of daytrips. Dolores would concoct elaborate and creative stories that involved staying overnight at fancy hotels that were really their house, and dining at expensive restaurants, that were picnics in road-side parks. In later years, Dolores enjoyed cruises, visiting her daughter in Nashville and several West Virginia communities, trips with the family to Hawaii, Alaska, Las Vegas, Seattle, San Francisco, the Rose Parade and southern California, Williamsburg, Atlanta, the Smoky Mountains, Florida, and Santa Fe – almost always visiting family or friends in those locales. America’s Bicentennial Summer of 1976 found the Kinkeads in the Philadelphia area for the week of July 4. On July 6, after waiting for hours in front of Independence Hall for a glimpse of Dolores’ April 21 “birthday mate”, Queen Elizabeth II, and Prince Phillip, the Queen stopped directly in front of Dolores, they exchanged a brief “Good Day” and smile. Never to be forgotten, the moment was captured in a series of snapshots. Dolores’ first Caribbean cruise was paid for with winning from a KFDI-Classic Country radio contest which involved knowing the “right answer” when the DJ called a random phone number! She used her winning to go on a KFDI Cruise with singer, George Jones, one of Dolores’ all-time favorites! She and George had several conversations throughout the cruise!
Family was always important to Dolores. Brothers, sisters, in-laws, nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her brothers, Karle McKinney and Don McKinney; sisters, Marion McNaughton and Carolyn Motter. Brothers-in law Wayne McNaughton and Bob Fooks; and sisters-in-law, Adean McKinney and Jean Kinkead Fooks; and nephew, Gary McKinney. In addition to her children, Dolores is also survived by her brother-in-law, Clair Motter and sister-in-law, Marilyn McKinney; 10 nieces and nephews, and numerous great and great-greats.
Visitation will be 10-11 a.m. Thursday, March 30 with funeral service beginning at 11 a.m., both at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 1356 N. Broadway, Wichita. Rev. Donna Goltry and Chaplain Cecil Lilliston, officiating. Visitation and interment will be Tuesday, April 4 at Grandview Cemetery in Sligo, Pennsylvania. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund’s “Healthy Congregations Program” (PO Box 1384, Hutchinson, KS 67504-1384) in memory of Dolores E. Kinkead. [www.healthfund.org]. After Dolores’ retirement from St. Francis in 1996, she became the Parish Nurse at her church, serving the congregation through 2018. From 1999-2005 she was recognized as the Team Leader of St. Paul’s Healthy Congregation team. Culbertson-Smith Mortuary, Wichita, is in charge of arrangements, assisted by McKinney-D’argy Funeral Home, Brookville (PA). Send condolences to smithfamilymortuaries.com.
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