Pauline McKinney

Pauline May McKinney was born September 17, 1922 on her grandparents’ farm near Hubbard, Oregon, in the same house as her mother and ten siblings.  Her parents were  Frank and Ruby (Zehner) Phares.  Many of her favorite memories are of the summer days spent playing with her brother and cousins in the woods and stream there.

She grew up in Oregon City, going through school there, and was the Drum Majorette with the Junior Legion Drum and Bugle Corp, which took part in several yearly Portland Rose Festival Parades.  During her senior year of high school she lived with her aunt and graduated from Woodburn High School. 

Pauline and her husband to be–Charles Robert McKinney–met when she was fifteen years old.  He was a senior at Parkrose High School in Portland.  They were married one month before Pearl Harbor and their son Ronald Patrick was born on the 30th of June, 1943.  Seven weeks later, Bob was on his way to basic training in the US Air Corps.  He went to  Dyersburg, Tennessee for advance training, so Pauline took ten-month old Ronnie and traveled by train to spend a couple months with him.

Bob was stationed in England, flying bombing missions over Germany, serving as crew chief and top turret gunner.  One time they were forced to ‘ditch’ in the North Sea.   They were lucky, and all the crew members survived.  And then were shot down over Germany and became prisoners of war.  The entire crew lived to come home, but were very thin!

As a civilian Bob helped to start Pettijohn Engineering and Construction Company in Portland.  He was General Superintendant of Construction and a Vice President.  They built fish ladders, microwave towers and concrete and steel high-tension transmission towers, some of which can be seen along I-5 north of Eugene.

Their second son, Steven Charles, was born January 3, 1947.  They moved into a new house in the east part of Portland in 1955, whre they lived for 25 years.  Their third son, Robert Brian, was born on May 13, 1955.  All three graduated from Parkrose High School in Portland.

When Bob retired in 1980 they moved into a new home in Phoenix, Arizona.  Their son Ronald lived a few houses away and is a heating and cooling engineer.  In 1983 Bob had several serious surgeries.  After four more years they moved to Green Valley, south of Tucson.  Bob died December 1, 1995.  Their son Robert was with them before and after his death, being a great help and blessing to them both. 

Pauline continued to live in Green Valley seven more years, and then settled into a new life with her cousin Muriel in the Eugene Hotel in Eugene, Oregon.  This was one of the happiest times in her life.  Pauline had always been rather isolated, and in this new environment she bloomed.

Pauline passed away February 2, 2010, at the age of 87.  She was a wonderful lady and will be dearly missed.  She leaves behind sons Steve, Ron and Bob; much-loved grandkids Jason, Lia and Kacey; and treasured great-granddaughter Amanda.

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