Former Yakima Valley resident Charles “Max” McKenzie, 84, of Edmonds, died Sunday in Edmonds [August 17, 1986]. Mr. McKenzie was born Dec. 8, 1901, in Omaha, Neb., to Charles and Maude McKenzie. They moved in 1903 to Quincy, where his family homesteaded until the death of his father in 1915. In 1917, they moved to the Kittitas Valley and took up farming.
Mr. McKenzie went to work for the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1923, retiring in 1967. He was married in 1926 to Ruth Barnhart. They were transferred to Yakima in 1932. While working for the railroad, he maintained a farm in Badger Pocket in the 1930s, did fruit farming in Englewood in the 1940s and farmed in Moxee in the 1950s.
Survivors include his wife, Ruth, of Edmonds; two sons, the Rev. Don McKenzie of Dallas, Texas, and Charles S. McKenzie of Seattle; seven grandchildren; a great grandchild; two brothers, Elvin McKenzie of Grandview and Don McKenzie of Yakima; and two sisters, Eleanor McGrath and Margaret Harrel, both of Ellensburg.
He was preceded in death by a brother, George, and a son, David. Graveside services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Friday in the IOOF Cemetery in Ellensburg. Memorials are suggested to the American Cancer Society or the charity of the donor’s choice.
Contributed by: Shelli Steedman