Mary Kathryn McVey

Mary Kathryn Skinner McVey died on July 11, 2026, in Oklahoma City, OK. She was 95 years old and just 45 minutes shy of her 96th birthday. Mary was born in a farmhouse in Southeastern Cleveland County, OK on July 12, 1930. She was the only child of Roy William and Maggie (Anderson) Skinner. Her family farmed and ranched around Lexington and Wanette where she attended several small country schools, Lexington Public Schools, and graduated from Wanette High School in 1948. Afterwards, Mary moved to Houston, TX and worked for Southwestern Bell. Later she transferred to Oklahoma City and loved working for the phone company and living at the YWCA.

Early in 1952, Mary rekindled a friendship with a boy in her high school graduating class, Wesley McVey. He had recently returned from serving in the U.S. Army in Korea and Japan and was employed as a lineman with Southwestern Bell in Lawton. They married in Wanette, OK on November 8, 1952, and settled in Shawnee. Mary became a full-time homemaker, and soon they became parents to Nancy in 1953, Jayme in 1956, and Patrick in 1960. They lived in the Shawnee and Tecumseh area until Wesley died in 2008. 

Mary relocated to Yukon, OK, to be closer to her children. For 74 years, Mary was a loving and devoted wife and mother. At her death, she was a member of Yukon Bible Church. Mary enjoyed life’s simple pleasures: hot coffee and ice cream, quilting and embroidery, crossword puzzles, reading, attending church, cooking and baking. She was famous for her vast catalog of Pott County colloquialisms. Her greatest joys were her family, her home, and her relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Mary was preceded in death by her parents, Roy and Maggie Skinner, and her husband of 56 years, Wesley L. McVey. She is survived by her daughters, Nancy McVey (James Lanier), Jayme McVey (James Stephens), and her son Patrick McVey; her grandchildren, Cathryn Cooper Clark (Kent), Stacy Cooper Brown, Charles Wesley Daniel, and Maggie Daniel Capps (Phillip); great-grandchildren, Mason Brown, Caraline Tharp, Grace Daniel, and Jack Capps.

A graveside service will be held on Thursday, July 16, 2026, at 2:00 pm at Tecumseh Cemetery in Tecumseh, Oklahoma.