Karl R. McKinney

        Funeral services for Karl R. McKinney, 88, of Lufkin, will be held Saturday, August 13, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. at First Christian Church in Lufkin with Rev. Jack Knox officiating. Interment will follow at Garden of Memories Memorial Park in Lufkin.

        Mr. McKinney was born on March 31, 1934, in Kingsville, TX., to the late Hugh McKinney and Bertie Bethal McKinney, and died Monday, August 8, 2022, in Lufkin.

        In 1957, Karl married the love of his life and “the best looking girl in Kingsville”, Judy Flower. Karl was an avid baseball fan and made sure to pass that joy on to his children. He had a passion for music and joined his first choir as a young boy and remained in one choir or another for the rest of his life, including the Prince George’s Chorale Society, The Florida Singing Men, and the Singing Men of East Texas. Karl graduated from Texas A&I in 1957 with his Masters Degree in Physics. He worked as a Research Physicist for 32 years at the Naval Research laboratory before he retired in 1989. Karl and Judy spent many of their retirement years traveling. They visited Hawaii, Alaska, Europe, the Caribbean, and others. Karl passed the latter years of his life singing with the Singing Men of East Texas for sixteen years and in 2019 he and his group had the opportunity to sing at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Nothing brought him more joy than to travel and sing with this group of fellow believers.

          Karl will be greatly missed by his family and friends. However, they are left with the solace that he entrusted his life to Christ and is now in Heaven singing with the angels.

          He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Judy McKinney of Lufkin; sons and daughters-in-law, Kurt and Sandie McKinney of Sudlersville, MD., Keith and Chris McKinney of Palm Bay, FL., and Kenneth McKinney and Cindy Garcia of Myrtle Beach, SC.; daughter and son-in-law, Karyn and Daniel Mast of Kilmarnock, VA..; 14 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

          Pallbearers will be Nick McKinney, Kyle McKinney, Pat McKinney, Chris Brophy, Micah Emminizer, and Silas Emminizer.

          Honorary pallbearers will be John Porter, Joe Jones, Tim Timmons, and Bob Brown.         

          In lieu of flowers, special memorials may be made to Hospice in the Pines, 1504 W Frank Ave, Lufkin, TX 75904, or First Christian Church Music Ministry, 1300 S First St, Lufkin, TX 75901.   

Visitation will be held from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Friday, August 12, 2022, at Shafer Funeral Home in Lufkin.

          Shafer Funeral Home, Lufkin directors.

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