MCKEEHAN , Grace G. *

The Wickenburg Sun, Wickenburg, Arizona Wednesday, September 30, 2015 Grace G. McKeehan passed away peacefully in her sleep on Sept. 13, 2015, in Wickenburg. She was born in Hiawatha, Kan., on March 29, 1911, at a time and place not too far removed from America’s untamed frontier. She remembers Independence Day parades where Civil War veterans were honored and revered, and of tales told by her grandfather who drove ammunition wagons in that same war. She grew up on a farm with her parents, two brothers, three sisters and her paternal grandfather. At age 13 she began her lifelong love affair with golf, taught to her by her aunt, Mrs. Grace Stone. She graduated from Hiawatha High School in 1929 and two years later from Highland Junior College in Highland, Kan. She then taught elementary school for four years in one-room schools in the Brown County area. She married her high school sweetheart Frederick H. Younkman in 1935. In 1940, they had a son, John. They moved to Burbank, Calif., in 1943, where she was a homemaker, mother and trophy-winning golfer. After 32 years of marriage they separated and divorced. In 1968, she moved to Yakima, Wash., where she married Ralph J. McKeehan, who would become the love of her life. She enjoyed being a housewife, reading the daily newspaper and good books, playing poker (hard to beat) and gin rummy (always tough) with friends, dances at the Yakima Elks on Saturday nights, and receiving weekly that single long stemmed rose from Ralph. She was an excellent golfer and eventually taught Ralph the game. They both enjoyed playing the beautiful Yakima Elks course and others throughout the Pacific Northwest and California. She was a strong yet uncomplicated woman, a quiet woman, truly blessed with having a positive and remarkable life, with a lifetime of good health, of surrounding herself with loving friends and relations, with a ready smile for everyone she met, without negative thoughts (except for politics), and most importantly…of expecting to and therefore receiving a life of goodness and no regrets at the end. As her name implies she received, and honored it during her life’s journey, the blessings and favor of God. She leaves behind her son John F. Younkman and wife Arleen of Wickenburg; stepson Thomas M. McKeehan and his wife Beverly of Monrovia, Calif.; stepdaughter Betty Butler and her husband Craig of Corona, Calif; and stepdaughter Janel Howe of Azusa, Calif.; and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Ralph J. McKeehan; parents James and Gertrude (O’Neil) Burns; her brothers Thomas and Robert Burns; her sisters Ruth Schultz, Alice Irwin and Helen Comfort; stepson George McKeehan; and grandson Tim McKeehan. She will be interred, and a remembrance of her life will be held at Rose Hills Cemetery in Whittier on Oct. 10. Friends and family may offer online condolences at www.wickenburgfuneralhome.com. Arrangements are under the direction of Wickenburg Funeral Home and Crematory.