Bernhardt Funeral Home
Don was born in Hacoda, Alabama on July 15, 1933 and was raised in DeFuniak Springs, Florida. He was one of ten children born to James Mallard McKee and Edith Ellen McKee. He attended Alabama Christian College in Montgomery where he also worked for the Montgomery Advertiser, beginning as a copy boy and rising to become state editor. He was married to his sweetheart, Barbara Jane Tillery, in 1955.
Don and Barbara moved to Atlanta in 1960 with their three children, Richard, Cynthia and Katrina where Don preached at Union City Church of Christ and worked for the Associated Press. While working for the AP, he covered the civil rights movement through the 1960's, covered the Selma march with Martin Luther King, Jr. and wrote a book in 1969 on Martin Luther King Jr. He went on to become regional editor of the U.S. News and World Report, opening the Atlanta branch for the news magazine. He then went on to open his own public relations firm, McKee Communications, and later became a columnist for the Marietta Daily Journal where he continued to write editorials and columns through much of 2020. He also authored five other books during his career. Don was a member of the MacLand Road Church of Christ, and previously a long time member of the Ellijay Church of Christ, and elder for 20 years at the Greenbriar Church of Christ. Don loved his family, his Lord, writing, and working with young people in the Lads to Leaders program for many years. He spent his whole life in the service of others and he will be immeasurably missed by his family and each life he touched. He is preceded in death by siblings Kerwin McKee, and Kenneth McKee.
Don is survived by wife, Barbara Tillery McKee; siblings Ray McKee, Maxie McKee, Bernice Elliott, Gerald McKee, Bob McKee, Melva Josey and Colin McKee; children, Richard McKee, Cynthia McKee Latson, Katrina McKee Kingsley; grandchildren, Angela (Ricky) Rives, Rebecca Latson, Benjamin (Jaclyn) Kingsley, Andrew (Kana) Kingsley, Preston Kingsley; great grandchildren, Kennedy Rives, Truman Rives, Eva Rives, Deacon Rives, Grayson Kingsley, Charlotte Kingsley, Penelope Kingsley, Kindle Kingsley, and Charlie Kingsley.
He was much loved.
Don had a long career as an author and journalist, working for the Associated Press during the 1960's covering the civil rights movement and following Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Selma march. He authored five books, including a biography on Martin Luther King, Jr., and later opened a regional branch for the U.S. News and World Report. In his later years he was a columnist for the Marietta Daily Journal.
He was much loved.
Bernhardt Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements
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