Winston "Jack" Jackson McKey

Winston Jackson “Jack” McKey, 80 of Wray passed away on Monday, July 18, 2022 at his residence.

Funeral services will be held at 1:00 P.M. Saturday, July 23, 2022 in the chapel of Albritton Funeral Directors with Mr. Tommy Nalls and Dr. Tom Grant speaking.  Interment will follow in Oakridge Cemetery with military honors being rendered. The family will receive friends and family before the service from 11:00 A.M. to 12:30 P.M. at the funeral home.

Brian Mathis, Bill Rigdon, Andy Graham, Chris Merritt, Garrett Dowdy, Phillip Smith and Jay Dowdy will serve as pallbearers.

Jack was born February 15, 1942, in Biloxi, Mississippi. He was the adopted son of Winston Carisle McKey and Dorothy Jackson McKey in Valdosta. He graduated from Gordon Military School and attended Valdosta State College.

During his life as an avid outdoorsman, Jack worked all over the country in a variety of jobs.  He was a commercial fishman in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Alaska, he worked as a cowboy with horses and cattle, as an auctioneer and even built canoes for a Ken Burns documentary about Lewis and Clark.  He was a “one of a kind individual” Jack met with many tribes of Native Americans collecting the necessary materials to make primitive weapons that he taught himself and others to make. Many of his creations have been on display at the Georgia Museum of Agriculture.   A documentary about Jack’s craft and life was released by the journalism department at Abraham Baldwin Agriculture College under the direction of Dr. Tom Grant.  You may read this released article at https://abacstallion.com/2019/08/29/abac-interns-travel-9000-miles/ or view video at https://vimeo.com/435604789. Jack’s wife Betty worked full-time in the education system to help support them because she believed his craft needed to be preserved and passed on.

Jack is survived by his wife, Betty Jean Rigdon McKey of Wray to whom he married December 3, 1973; his son and daughter-in-law, Jay and Catherine Dowdy of Cairo; his grandchildren, Ashton Dowdy and Garrett Dowdy along with his wife’s brother, Bill Rigdon of Ocilla.

Albritton Funeral Directors is in charge of the arrangements.