Thelma "Tootsie" (Booth) McKinney

Thelma Mae "Tootsie" Booth McKinney
May 14, 1937 – April 27, 2025

Thelma Mae "Tootsie" Booth McKinney, age 87, of King, North Carolina, passed away peacefully early Sunday morning, April 27, 2025, at Oak Forest Health & Rehabilitation in Winston-Salem.

Tootsie was born on May 14, 1937, in Stokes County to the late Walter Jackson Booth and Nora Ida East Booth. A devoted homemaker, she dedicated her life to caring for her family with unconditional love and support. Tootsie found great joy in simple pleasures — quilting, mowing the lawn, tending to the cows, and riding her tractor, all of which brought her a deep sense of fulfillment and pride.  She graduated from Nancy-Reynolds School where she loved to play basketball with her host of friends.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Rex "Shorty" McKinney; three brothers, Walter Jackson Junior (Ruth) Booth, John William (Olene) Booth, and Palmer Willey Booth; four sisters, Bertha (Odell) Marshall, Wondest (Raymond) Tucker, Mary Ella Booth, and Frances Avolene (Reid) Durham; three nephews, Wendal McKinney, Michael Booth, and Bub Marshall; three nieces, Carolyn Marion, Jane Matthews, and Cheryl Martin; and her son-in-law, Ray Gross.

Left to cherish her memory are her daughter, Beverly Anita Gross; her son, Timothy Rex (Mickey) McKinney; and her four sisters-in-law, Peggy Booth, Sylvia White, Brenda McKinney, and Shirley Barney. Tootsie's legacy of strength, kindness, and devotion will live on in all who knew and loved her.

A graveside service to honor Mrs. McKinney’s life will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 30, 2025, at Stoney Ridge Baptist Church Cemetery with Elder Rodney Marshall officiating.

The family will receive friends at Beverlys home on Tuesday, April 29, 2025.

Cox-Needham Funeral Home is respectfully serving the McKinney family.

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