Larry McKinney died this morning in Tyler, Texas, after having many complications due to liver problems. Anyone who knows Larry knows he has been dealing with the ups and downs of a need for a liver
transplant. Fluid kept collecting on his legs and body and had to be removed from time to time. It was done yesterday, and took alot out of him. At four this AM, Sonya and Terry Bloomberg, the people from
California that he moved to Canton with, checked on him and he was doing OK, at 8 AM when they tried to get him in the shower he collapsed. They called the ambulance and he was hurried to the hospital in Tyler. He never woke up and expired mid-day. He will be taken back to his home in Missouri for burial with his family. I am trying to get a letter out to everyone of your rodeo clowns and I'll get information and particulars for memorials, etc. For the Sports News, Rodeo Historical Society, American Cowboy Magazine, etc., I'll send a formal obituary later. I always felt Larry was born 100 years too late. He wanted to live like a mountain man. Instead he was born to us. I'll miss him.
Gail |