Obituary of Jeanette Francis McKee

WAYLAND - Jeanette Francis McKee, 77, passed away on Monday, September 23, 2019 at UR Medicine - Noyes Memorial Hospital, under the compassionate and caring healthcare team at the hospice center. From her birth in Wayland, NY, on April 9, 1942 to her passing on Monday she nurtured her family with motherly love. Jeanette was born in the bucolic town of Wayland, NY to Anthony and Mary (Kuhn) Conrad and was the middle child of 12 brothers and sisters.

As only providence would dictate she met her future husband Gerald McKee in 1957 at an unlikely place in Glennwood Milk Bar ice-cream store in Hornell, NY. In surreal fashion they married in 1959 and had three children with whom she embodied the loving, humble and doting mother that became her hallmark.

While she worked various jobs throughout her life the one job that embodied her humble and nurturing spirit was the 15 years that she dedicated her life with the NY State Senior Companion program that enables people with special needs to live independently in their homes. However, no job was more essential to her than being a loving wife of 60 years and mother of three. Imbued with implacable motherly wisdom she always knew the right things to say or timely wisdom to ease life's intemperate times.

She relished the simple things in life, from many walks and barbecues with her family in Letchworth Park to the daily telephone conversations with her brothers and sisters.

Through God's grace and mercy we treasure the 77 years that he gave us with our Mom but now God has given her a new assignment. So while we lament and shed tears at our beloved Mother's departure we take solace in God's plan for her as eloquently stated in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NLT): "Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever."

Left to honor Jeanette and remember her love and legacy are Jeanette's husband Gerry and three children, Don (Dagmar McKee), Connie (Steve Cotton) and Ron (Sandra McKee); along with five grandchildren, Sara (McKee) Aldridge, Colby and Amelia Cotton, Haley and Jacob McKee; two great-grandchildren, Benjamin and Liam Aldridge; as well as her brothers Tony, Jimmy and David, and sisters, Helen, Dottie, Anita, Rosie, Ann and Mary; and many nieces and nephews. 

Jeanette was preceded in death by her parents, Anthony and Mary Conrad, a brother, Jack, and a sister, Alice.