Evelyn McKinnon

Evelyn McKinnon went home to be with her Lord on Saturday, February 18, 2023, in French Settlement, Louisiana. Throughout her 89 years, she was a loving daughter, devoted wife of 43 years to Ardell McKinnon, attentive mother, adoring Nanny, loyal sister, proud “Aunt” or “Aunt Liz”, and influential “Mz. ‘Kinnon” to the many children who she cared for in her home. She is preceded in death by her husband, parents, daughter Connie McKinnon, sister Virginia Weaver (Dale), sister-in-law Mildred Stallsworth, and the grandchildren lost too soon whom she finally gets to meet in Glory.

Evelyn Irene was born on December 26, 1933, in Wray, Colorado, to Marvin and Della Elzey, later also becoming a devoted daughter to Tony Stallsworth. She grew up there on the farm(s), graduating from Westminister High School and completing a trade school business program before her family moved to Arkansas. There, she met and married Ardell, settling together in Minden, Louisiana, shortly after. Her home was a labor of love, with the doors always open to company and the kitchen inviting with plenty to share. She spent four decades of Sunday mornings with the five year olds at First Baptist Church of Minden. Weekdays filled her home with children - her own, and the others she also called “hers”. Saturdays were for shopping, and any spare afternoons were spent walking, visiting, and serving her neighbors around Loop Road. Traveling adventures filled her summer vacations and retirement years, with all 50 states and beyond represented in the collection of spoons and albums she proudly displayed. An avid reader, her sewing machine never sat idle for long; neither did her green thumb. From swinging a double-sided axe at the age of 5, to the detailed Christmas stockings she created for each new member of the family, to know her was to admire her. She leaves behind a legacy of sacrificial hard work, generous hospitality, and a whole lot of sweet tea and buttermilk pie.

To her surviving loved ones - her daughter, Debra Matherne (Owen), her son, Delvin McKinnon (Linda), her grandchildren, Valerie, Zachary, Seth, Hannah, Joseph, Philip, John, and David, her great-grandchildren, Bradson, Blaze, Caleb, Cameron, Evelyn, James, Clara, Genesis and Adelyn, her sisters, Norma Dowings, Patsy Brandt (Dave) , and Kay Taverner (Everett), her brother, Larry Stallsworth, and her many nieces and nephews: always remember she “loved you the mostest.”

Join us in remembering and honoring Evelyn’s life at Rose Neath Funeral Home in Minden, Louisiana. Visitation will be held on Thursday, February 23, 2023, from 5pm to 7pm. Visitation will continue on Friday, February 24, at 8am, followed by the funeral service at 10am and graveside service at The Garden of Memory.