This fund provides income for the Community Foundation’s discretionary grantmaking program.
John McKee (1936 – 2023) was a lifelong resident of Aurora, Illinois, and a graduate of West Aurora High School. In 1958, he graduated cum laude from Beloit College with a degree in economics. He was then employed in the family-owned business, McKee Door Company, until it was sold in 1986. He continued working with the successor company, Porvene-McKee, until 1994. Mr. McKee served as director and president of the Aurora Family YMCA, The Aurora Foundation (now the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley) and the Kiwanis Club of Aurora. He has also been a director of Mental Health and Mental Retardation Services, Inc., and trustee of Aurora University and the Aurora YWCA. In 1992, he received the Cosmopolitan Club’s Distinguished Service Award and, in 2005, he was named recipient of the Kiwanis Club’s Service to God and Fellowman Award. Mr. McKee was also a member of the chancel choir at New England Congregational Church. He served as moderator and member of the church’s major governing boards.
Gwen McKee (1937-2014) was born in Chicago, Illinois. She was a 1958 graduate of Beloit College and was employed for two years at IBM as a Systems Representative. She was a talented and prolific quilter, producing quilts for family, friends and charitable causes. Mrs. McKee was a member of New England Congregational Church, where she participated in the chancel choir.
The couple had three children.
