Arizona (Bonnie) Grant McKinney

Arizona (Bonnie) Grant McKinney, 88, of Asheville, passed away on June 11, 2009, following a period of declining health. She was many things to many people, a loving daughter, sister, wife, mother, aunt, grandmother, great-grandmother, friend, neighbor and co-worker. Her love of life and her zest for living was so infectious that she could draw people in without them ever being aware of it. She could be very opinionated and was never afraid to say what she was thinking. That confidence and lack of fear was what made her so appealing. Even when life threw her a curve, and over the years there were many, she always pulled herself up and got on with the job at hand. She encouraged others to believe in themselves and never give up. Our lives will never be the same without her. The void is deep and wide and no one will ever be able to fill her shoes, but she would not want us to mourn her passing. But instead, celebrate her life and what a life it was. When all is said and done, Bonnie was a plain, simple, God loving, honest woman. A native of Swain County, she lived most of her life in Asheville. She was born April 3, 1921, on Wesser Creek, the seventh of eleven children born to the late Neville Carroll and Ruth Holden Grant. She was a member of Oteen Baptist Church and the American Legend Auxiliary. She was also preceded in death by her husband, David McKinney, who died July 22, 1964; sisters and brothers, Lola Grant, Naomi McKinnish Barnett, Florence Breedlove, Velma Grant, Arnold, Ben, Luke, Mark and Verlin Grant; eight nieces and nephews. Following graduation from Almond High School in 1940, she moved to Cramerton, NC, where she worked in a cotton mill until she moved in 1941 to Detroit, MI, where she worked for General Motors. When WWII began she joined the Air Transportation Corps, which later became the Women's Army Corps, where she served as a Dental Technician attaining the rank of Private First Class. When the war ended she returned to Asheville and worked at the Enka Plant. That not being her cup of tea, she went to work as a Nursing Assistant at Moore General Hospital in Swannanoa. There she met David and they were married in Clayton, GA in 1947. Following the birth of their first child in 1949, she transferred to Oteen Veteran's Administration Medical Center (OVAMC) and became one of the first Licensed Practical Nurses in North Carolina. She retired from the OVAMC in 1965 and did private duty nursing for many years thereafter. Mrs. McKinney is survived by her brother, Varnel Grant of Bryson City; her children, Linda Perkins (Ed), Teresa Moore (Robert), Sherrie Harris (Ralph) and Stephen McKinney; six grandchildren, David Ramsey, Gerald Allison, Melissa Moore, Aleda Lunsford, Jennifer Spicer, Stephanie Harris; 13 great-grandchildren; two great-great-grandchildren and thirty-seven nieces and nephews. Funeral services will be 2:00 pm Sunday in the Patton Avenue chapel of Groce Funeral Home with the Reverend Gayle D. Brown officiating. Interment will follow at Gashes Creek Baptist Church Cemetery. Her family will receive friends from 6:30-9:00 pm Saturday at the funeral home and at other times will be at the home of Linda and Ed Perkins, 10 Harmony Lane, Asheville, with whom she made her home prior to her last hospitalization. Flowers will be greatly appreciated or you may make memorial contributions in her name to Oteen Baptist Church Media Fund, 37 Oteen Church Road, Asheville, NC 28805 or to the Shriners Hospital for Children, 950 W. Faris Road, Greenville, SC 29605.