Norma Jean McKee, age 89, passed away Sunday, February 10, 2019 at Brookdale Senior Living. She was born August 25, 1929, at Shubert, Tennessee, near Hohenwald. She was the youngest child of Robert Dallas and Annie Mai Baker McKee.
Funeral services will be conducted Wednesday at 2:00 P.M. at Oakes & Nichols Funeral Home with Kenny McFarlen and Eddie Miller officiating. Burial will follow in Rose Hill Cemetery. The family will visit with friends Wednesday from 12:00 P.M. until service time at the funeral home.
The family suggests memorials be made to West Seventh Street Church of Christ, 405 West Seventh Street, Columbia, TN 38401. Condolences may be extended online at www.oakesandnichols.com.
Jean grew up in Lewis County and in her first year of school completed first and second grade, and graduated from Lewis County High School at age 16. After graduation she worked at General Shoe Company and when her parents moved to Columbia, she followed and enrolled in Columbia Business School. She lived in Columbia for the remainder of her life. Jean worked at Tennessee Farmer’s Cooperative, Farm Bureau and in July of 1950 began a 36-year career at Monsanto. At age 57 she retired when the plant closed in 1986.
Jean began a second career in the office at Columbia Neon, Inc., in March of 1988. Until one month before her death she was still working 30 hours a week. For several years her signature introduction was to tell people how old she was and that she worked three ten-hour days a week! Having never married with no children, the owners and employees of Columbia Neon along with her nieces and nephews were her extended family. Jean will forever be remembered for a lifetime of dedication to her work, love of family and over the top giving to one and all!
She was a faithful member of West Seventh Street Church of Christ for her entire adult life, over 70 years.
Jean is survived by her nieces, Faye Hill of Columbia; Glenda Dean of Newnan, Georgia; Sue (Eddie) Miller of Santa Fe; nephews, Tony (Donna) Chesnut of Grand Rapids, Michigan; Greg (Teresa) DeLancey of Murray, Kentucky; James McKee of Columbia. Also surviving are 6 great nieces and 6 great nephews, a host of great great nieces and nephews, longtime friends and work associates throughout Maury County and Middle Tennessee.
In addition to her parents, she is preceded in death by her sisters, Lorene (Howard) Minor, Juanita (Doug) Chesnut, Gladys (Vincent) DeLancey; brothers, Jesse (Gusta) McKee, and Floyd (Nell) McKee; nieces, Penny McKee and Lynn Erwin; and nephews, Bill Minor and David McKee.
Pallbearers will be George Stofel, Charles Stofel, Billy Grigsby, Josh Willoughby, Ben Willoughby, Chad DeLancey, Joe Minor, and C. T. Johnson. Honorary pallbearers include Judy Workman, Sherry Gore, great nieces and nephews, retired employees of Monsanto, and elders and deacons of West Seventh Street Church of Christ.
