John Thomas McKinney

John Thomas McKinney, 89, of Mont Vernon, New Hampshire, passed away February 12, 2025 to Heaven at Boston Medical Center surrounded and loved by his family members.

John a.k.a. ‘Tom’, was born in Lake County, Oregon on June 10, 1935. and raised in Berkeley, CA by his parents by whom he was predeceased: Ernest Lenoir McKinney born in Linville Falls, NC, and Ruth Genevieve McKinney (née Thomas), born in Yakima, WA. As a youngster, Tom first learned mathematics skills thoroughly on the abacus. Soon after graduating from high school, Tom attended Lewis and Clark College where he fell in love and married the beautiful Norma Rae Kosta, who remained his loving wife for 64 years until her passing in 2021. Soon after graduating from Lewis and Clark with a B.S. in Mathematics, Tom attended UCLA where he earned his M.S. in Electrical Engineering. His love for numbers and his patriotism for his country landed him a job as a U.S. Navy civil servant working for the U.S. Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Pasadena, CA. He quickly found his stride in the burgeoning field of computers (mainframes) in the ’60’s. Tom and his team developed a number of firsts in their quest to create sophisticated acoustic behavior models critical to the testing and development of smart acoustic homing torpedoes for the U.S. Navy, saving the U.S. Navy millions of dollars. Fun fact, he and his team also developed one of the earliest implementations of digital speech, which they programmed to verbally narrate typewritten project progress to the executives and military brass.

During their time in the L.A. area, Tom and Norma added to their family with the births of their three beautiful daughters Cynthia, Amy, and Jennifer. Tom and Norma’s spirit for travel and adventure soon resulted in many family trips together. First, summer trips sight-seeing around the U.S.A. in a camper and then overseas to Europe with Tom accepting a job at Sperry UNIVAC Division in England. The family spent 8 years living in England and enjoyed many adventures around the British Isles and on the continent of Europe. The family returned to the United States in 1977 where they landed in Minnesota for one year, before settling into New Hampshire for Tom’s job at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in Merrimack, NH., working on systems integrations accounts of over $300M. Later Tom worked his way up to Software Engineering Director at Cisco Systems in Framingham, MA, leading teams of over 200 people, working on Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) and expanding the customer base to over 300 worldwide service providers and enterprises, before retiring at age 71.

Amherst, NH was called home for 11 years. After the nest emptied, he and Norma moved one last time to their forever home that they built in the little village of Mont Vernon, NH where they lived for 30+ years. Tom loved the boundless beauty of nature that surrounded him and Norma in NH, which was reflected in their volunteering in the Amherst Garden Club, the Milford Garden Club, and the Mont Vernon Beautification Committee. He and Norma spent much of their free time together tending to their beautiful yard with specimen plantings. Tom loved relaxing on his deck outdoors. He also enjoyed small town and national politics, loved watching politics on TV, and worked on getting passage of a bill for the residents of the town of Mont Vernon NH. He loved spending time with his family, and he especially appreciated extra time with his three daughters and their husbands toward the last years of life on weekly zoom calls and in person, as they worked together on creating a commercial solar farm project with Dad at the helm as Solar Farm Development Program Manager. His memory was excellent and he made a point of remembering the names of those whom he met. He always impressed people with his recall. Toward the latter years of his life, he grew to love God with all his heart as he participated in daily studies, and publicly committed to his faith by full immersion baptism at age 89. His laughter, strength, wisdom, leadership, kindness and gentleness will be greatly missed.

Tom’s survivors include his three daughters and their spouses: Cynthia & Daniel Bruce of Imperial CA, Amy & Timothy Mechem of Mont Vernon NH, and Jennifer & John Murphy of Naples FL. He is also survived by 2 granddaughters and their spouses: Amanda & James Diaz of CA, Caitlin & Diego Duran of Hawaii; 2 grandchildren, Abby & Evan Diaz and his sister Anne Margaret Work (née McKinney) of North Bend OR.

Tom will be buried during a small private family ceremony in Klamath Falls, Oregon alongside his pre-deceased beloved wife Norma and her parents. He and Norma will also have a remembrance plaque in Mont Vernon, NH.

To accommodate all of Tom’s family and friends located far and wide, Tom’s daughters are providing special memories & photos online to celebrate Tom’s life. All family and friends are welcome to share their thoughtful, fond memories of Tom and/or offer a condolence online, too. Please look for Tom’s Celebration of Life link provided by his daughters under the Comments section of Tom’s Obituary on https://www.smith-heald.com/obituaries.

Thank you to everyone for all the joy, love and kindness you shared with our Dad/Grandpa/Great Grandpa/Cousin/Uncle/Great Uncle and many more relationship titles – we all miss him very dearly.

The family is extremely grateful to all the medical staff, friends, and remote family, who cared for and supported Tom in various meaningful ways. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to one of Tom’s favorite charities referencing his name (ref: in memory of/in honor of John Thomas McKinney of Mont Vernon, NH):

– Faith Academy (Tom’s daughter’s school), 320 South J Street, Imperial CA 92251 https://www.ivfaithassembly.org/donatepay-tuition

– Crossroads Christian School (Tom’s granddaughter’s school), https://www.crossroadsschool.org/donate/

– Christ’s Church of Amherst, ccnh.org, Tax ID (EIN) 02-0399142.

– Samaritan’s Purse, https://www.samaritanspurse.org, Tax ID (EIN) 58-1437002.

– NH Food Bank, nhfoodbank.org, Tax ID (EIN) 02-0222163.

Arrangements are in the care of the Smith & Heald Funeral Home, 63 Elm Street, Milford, NH 03055. To share a memory or offer a condolence please visit www.smith-heald.com for more information.