Bernice Marion McKay

Bernice Marion Jez McKay, age 103, passed peacefully on December 16, 2025, in Marionville, Missouri, leaving behind a legacy of faith in Jesus, resilience, devotion to family, and a life filled with laughter.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Bernice was the third of five children born to Stanley Jez and Anna Wojnarowski, young Polish immigrants who met and married after arriving in America. Raised in a hardworking immigrant household, Bernice learned early the values of perseverance, responsibility, and deep family loyalty.

After graduating from high school, Bernice held several jobs, including positions at Hump Hair Pin Manufacturing Company, Donnelly Magazines (publisher of Life, Time, and National Geographic), and the Wrigley Gum Factory. During World War II, she became a “Rosie the Riveter” at International Harvester where, as a young woman barely out of her teens, she rose to the role of section head of drill press operators.

On September 8, 1944, Bernice married Emerald “Mac” McKay of Eagleville, Missouri. Their marriage spanned decades and adventures as they followed Mac’s U.S. Navy career during World War II and the Korean War, living in California, Washington, D.C., and Florida. After his military service, they settled in Virginia in Bluemont and later Leesburg, where Bernice commuted to Washington, D.C., for her work at the U.S. Passport Office.

In 1974, after Mac’s retirement, the couple moved to Hartshorn, Missouri, where they embraced the farm life raising beef cattle, horses, and ponies. Bernice worked alongside Mac in developing a registered line of horses known as the McKay Curly Horse.

In 1993, Bernice and Mac moved to Springfield, Missouri. Mac passed away in 1995, and Bernice lived on her own until shortly after her 100th birthday. In November, 2022, she moved to Ozarks Methodist Manor in Marionville, Missouri, where she resided, amid much love and care, until her death.

Bernice is preceded in death by her beloved husband Mac; her parents, Stanley and Anna Jez; her daughter Mary Ann; and her siblings Adam, Wally, Cecilia, and Mary Ann.

She is survived by her children, James Patrick (Lorraine) McKay, Kathleen Claire (David) Modesitt, Sean Charles McKay, Donna Lyn McKay, and Paula Jean (David) Wentz, along with grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren, and many, many cherished friends.

Bernice will be remembered for her steadfast Christian faith, her love of family, her infectious laughter, and the warmth she extended to everyone she met. Her life spanned more than a century of change, yet her values remained constant -- love, hard work, kindness, and joy. She touched countless lives, and her legacy will live on in the generations she leaves behind.

A funeral mass will be held on Friday, January 16, at 1:00 p.m. at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 1609 N. Summit Ave., Springfield, MO. At a later date to be announced, Bernice will be interred beside her husband, Mac, and her daughter, Mary Ann, in a graveside service at Antioch Cemetery in Hartshorn, MO.