Birth date: Aug 4, 1936 Death date: Jul 2, 2025
Grace "Gracie" Elizabeth McKee passed away peacefully on July 2, 2025, at the age of 88, surrounded by the deep love of her cherished family. Born in Perry, Oklahoma to Charles Franklin and Mary Margaret Tontz Cockrum, she was the Read Obituary
I was particularly sad when I saw that my Aunt Gracie passed. She has always been and will always be my favorite aunt. When I was around 4 or 5 years old, I spent time with Grace and Clarence just after they got married. I was probably 5, and that meant Gracie was 18. Clarence would head off to work, and I'd spend the day with Gracie. And she was so much fun. We played Old Maid, we played outside, we cooked and baked. And at night, I got to sleep right in the middle of the bed. When I was 15 and 16, I moved into their house on the farm in Lucien. I fit right in. And my bed was in the middle of the living room. It was two springs and summers that changed my life. At almost 76, I remember all the details.
I rarely saw Gracie that she wasn't smiling or laughing. And it was contagious.
When I was fifteen, she taught me how to barrel race. When I was sixteen, she tried to teach me how to rope calves ... I was a horrible student. She was patient and funny. And we both agreed that I was not cut out for doing much of anything with a rope.
Never, in all my years of being with Clarence and Grace, did I ever hear them have a cross word towards the other. I saw remarkable love. I saw two people that treated each other as equals. They were, in so many ways, examples that I tried, for all of my years, to try to live up to.
I am unable to catch a flight from London to Oklahoma so quickly. But I will set aside time on Sunday and Monday to reflect on my aunt, and her life, well-lived. And send my love to all of the McKees on this sad occasion. As we say in our family, "May her memory be a blessing."
