Last modified: Friday, June 22, 2007 11:07 AM PDT Willie Mae McKinzie Aug. 14, 1937 - June 19, 2007 Payette Willie Mae McKinzie passed away Tuesday, June 19, 2007, in Boise from the complications of diabetes. A celebration of her life will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday, June 26, 2007, at the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Payette. Willie Mae was born Aug. 14, 1937, to John and Ada Palmertree in Red Oak, Okla. She started school in Oklahoma but the family moved to Escalon, Calif., in 1943. She went back to Wilburton, Okla., to marry William McKinzie Nov. 28, 1952, when she was 15 years old. Willie Mae worked seasonally at the Contadina cannery in Riverbank, Calif., but mostly she was a homemaker in the truest sense of the word. She loved sewing and any kind of craft. If she saw it, she could make it. Through the years, she became proficient at crocheting, making embroidered and beaded Western and square dance clothing, making beaded hair decorations, candleholders mad o beads, birdhouses, cloth dolls and also oil painting. She loved food and well may have been the first to make haystacks. She made biscuits and egg noodles from scratch. Family and friends knew they could count on a good meal at the McKinzies. Outdoors she raised flowers, especially irises and roses. Riverbank was a town where everybody celebrated Saturday night. Many country stars, such as Ernie Tubbs, Minnie Pearl, Hank Williams, Hank Snow and Webb Pearce made appearances at the local club house. Willie Mae loved country music and loved to dance, especially the polka and square dancing. The McKinzies had a motor home when they traveled. They kept in contact with others on the road with CB radios. He was Watchman and she was Watch Lady. They especially liked to travel to Arkansas to visit relatives, or to Quartsite, Ariz., or to California to spend the winter. Willie Mae was always a happy person with lots of energy. She was very outgoing and never knew a stranger. Willie Mae is survived by William, her husband of 55 years; her sisters, Johnnie Hughes, Felicia Reynoso, Pauletta McGuire; her brother, Jessie Palmertree; many nephews and nieces; and many great-nephews and nieces. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to the Payette Senior Citizen Center where Willie Mae donated many hours in the kitchen. She will be greatly missed.