By HDN Staff
CHINOOK Ben McKinnie, 89, died Sunday, Aug. 12, 2001, en route to a Havre hospital of a heart attack.
Vigil and rosary will be 8 p.m. Wednesday in St. Gabriel's Catholic Church. Mass will be recited at 11 a.m. Thursday with burial following in Kuper Memorial Cemetery.
McKinnie was born Nov. 13, 1911, at Chinook to Gilman and Florence (Hankey) McKinnie. He attended Chinook schools and graduated with the class of 1929. After one quarter at Northern Montana College, he decided to get into the commercial world. He sold Fuller Brushes, Dated Coffee and Yeast. He help his mother operate a small convenience store in Havre and graduated from two years at NMC. He then traveled to Mazatlan, Mexico, for the winter. He returned to work at Conoco in Chinook.
On May 29, 1941, he married Margaret Bough at St. Jude's Catholic Church in Havre with Father Coughlin officiating.
During World War II, McKinnie worked as a vacuum tube inspector for the Navy at Hewlett Packard. After the war, he returned to Conoco in Chinook, then went Havre and manufactured potato chips for a year. He later moved to Lodge Pole and was principal and taught school along with his wife for six years. They went to Fairfield Bench and taught there for a year before moving to Redwood City, Calif., where they taught for 18 years. He retired in 1974 to manage his apartment house, but soon decided to return to Chinook.
Survivors include his wife, Margaret McKinnie of Chinook; son, Gil McKinnie of Arlington, Wash.; daughters, Sister Karla McKinnie of Draper, Utah, Paula Taylor of Redwood City, Calif.; sister, Laura Palm of Chinook; sister-in-law, Helen McKinnie of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; four grandchildren; numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
Memorials may be sent to St. Gabriel's Catholic Church, Heart Fund or the Chinook Senior Citizens Center.
Arrangements are by Edwards Funeral Home of Chinook.
