Dorothy J. McKibbins' Obituary
Dorothy JoAnn Jones was born in Luella, Georgia in 1933 to Rosa Inez and Joseph Franklin Jones. After moving to Atlanta with her parents, she attended Booker T. Washington High School in the early fifties and Morris Brown College in the early sixties. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education from Morris Brown College in 1964. Her first teaching job was in Hawkinsville, Georgia under headmaster, Principal A.R. Boney. After one school year, she returned to Atlanta and began a teaching career with Atlanta Public Schools. She worked for a time at John Carey and A.D. Williams Elementary Schools.
In addition to teaching, Mrs. McKibbins had a life-long love of music which was initiated and encourages by her father. As a little girl, she was so infatuated with playing music, she saved a few dollars, and unbeknownst to her parents, put a down payment on an old used piano. When her dad realized her genuine interest and determination to play, he bought a suitable piano for the family. To further her exposure and advance her musical knowledge and skills, she became a student and apprentice of the distinguished and renowned Professor of Music, Leon Perry Wright. After her teaching career was prematurely ended, due to illness, Mrs. McKibbins became the primary musician for a few churches throughout the Atlanta area. She also shared her musical talents and skills, on a volunteer basis, at several senior citizen's high-rises and convalescent homes.
Her immediate family consisted of three children: Melody Alexis McKibbins (Melody Christy), Angela Joan McKibbins (Angela Moore) and Joseph Franklin McKibbins.
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