Radwin Jerome McKinnon, Jr.

Radwin Jerome "Jerry" McKinnon, Jr., passed away at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, NC, November 22, 2022 after a long illness. Jerry was born March 16, 1945, the middle child of the late Radwin and Bertha Connell McKinnon. He graduated from Garinger High School in 1963 and attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. As a teenager, he apprenticed in a neighbor's printing business and learned the fine art of printing. In 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War, Jerry was drafted into the US Army. He spent two years at Fort Bragg running the US Army printing presses, acquiring skills that laid the foundations for a life-long career in the printing industry, first as co-owner of Apple Graphics, a graphics design and printing service, and later as a salesman at Rowan Business Forms. As soon as he was old enough, Jerry began ushering at the Charlotte Coliseum (now the Bojangles Coliseum), and was allowed to attend all performances he worked. There he learned to ice skate, fell in love with hockey and became a Junior Checker hockey player. A gifted athlete who relished a considered risk, Jerry later embraced skydiving, and made more than 200 free-falls―a fact unknown to many of his friends. A gifted mechanic and a jack of all trades, Jerry loved working on (and racing) cars, jumping out of planes, and every kind of fishing. He loved music and possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of classic rock and roll and its roots. After many years in Salisbury, NC, where he leaves devoted friends, Jerry moved to Murrell's Inlet, SC., where he fit in immediately and in no time amassed another list of mutual, life-long friends. Happy Hour at the Side Porch or Russell's came alive with Jerry's presence and laughter, and he also became one of the pillars of the annual Spring Tide Cleanup―a now traditional event that he attended even after his illness prevented his driving. For at the age of 56, while living in Murrells Inlet, he received the diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease. During the 20 years he endured its escalating ravages, no one ever heard the first complaint. Soft-spoken and modest, charismatic and accomplished and quick to laugh, Jerry lived life full and kept his pain to himself, the embodiment of "Old School" manhood. In 2020, Jerry moved to Merrywood on Park Independent Living in Charlotte, a difficult transition during the middle of the Covid 19 pandemic. But as restrictions began to lift, Jerry, true to form, began to win the hearts of new friends. There will be a special remembrance for him with his friends at Merrywood later in January. Jerry was preceded in death by his daughter Erin and is survived by sons Tom of Charlotte and James and wife Samantha of Brooklyn, NY; sisters Joy Clark of Arden, NC and Jane McKinnon Thompson of Charlotte/Mooresville; nephew Carlton Clark and wife Beth of Black Mountain, NC, niece Allison Montgomery of Columbia, MD, and special canine niece "Shelby" . There will be a Celebration of Life in Murrells Inlet in the Spring of 2023. Return to www.tallentfuneralservice.com in late spring for details. Memorials may be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research, P. O. Box 5014, Hagerstown, MD, 21741 or www.give.michaeljfox.org or charity of your choice.