Betty Ann Mckinnon

McKinnon, Betty Ann (nee Gallant) passed away peacefully at home in Irvine, California at the age of 87 Monday evening November 29, 2021. Betty Ann was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada on December 10, 1933. After a full and complete life, she leaves behind her devoted husband Jim, four loving children Paul, Mary Jo Kauker (Jim), Mike (Inez) and Janet Spiech (Paul), fourteen grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Betty Ann also is survived by siblings Marie, Teresa, Judy, Donald and Steve; predeceased by her parents Austin and Barbara Gallant of Charlotteton, and siblings Julienne, Joan, Estelle and Barbara.

After finishing high school in Charlottetown Betty Ann qualified as a nursing student at the Charlottetown General Hospital, graduating from that program as a registered nurse (RN) in 1956. She then ventured off the Island to complete a graduate course in pediatrics at the Margaret Haig Hospital in Jersey City, NJ. These credentials made her a valued pediatric nurse at Hamilton’s St. Joseph’s Hospital, at Toronto’s Wellesley and Scarborough General Hospitals, and as a volunteer to the American Heart Society of Michigan. In Irvine she continued to donate her time to the money counting ministry at Saint Elizabeth Ann Seaton Church as well as the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and as an early participant in the SOS Society.

Betty Ann’s life story took her from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and beyond. From Charlottetown to Irvine, where she lived enjoyably for the past forty years, including stops along the way in Hamilton and Toronto, Ontario, and Farmington, Michigan. The stop in Hamilton included marriage to husband Jim McKinnon, October 17, 1959. Aside from her family and friends Betty Ann’s true loves in life included a lobster meal, golf, and travel. Her travels with Jim, both independently and as part of his work with Ford Motor, Nissan North America and as an automotive marketing consultant, included Canada, USA, Latin America, most countries of Europe and the Far East, India and Kenya, where she had one of her most enjoyable travel experiences -- a visit with sister Marie and her husband Bud, who at that time had been missionaries in Africa for some twenty-five years. Visiting with Marie exceeded even her and Jim’s longtime desire to see the African animals in the wild, which they did on safari in Kenya and Tanzania.

Betty Ann was a true one of a kind. You will always be loved and forever in our hearts. Rest in peace.