Eugene "Gene" Kinley, Jr.

Eugene “Gene” W. Kinley Jr., 78, of Lonoke, Arkansas passed away December 31, 2022.  He was born in Brinkley, Arkansas on July 24, 1944, to the late Eugene Sr., and Lucille Kinley.

Many people talk the talk of what it means to live “The Good Life”.  Others spend their days in actual study of the philosophy of it.  Gene, however, was one of the few who chose to walk the walk.  He clearly left behind 78 years of footsteps for anyone to follow.

Gene was a Christian. He was kind, unselfish, had a true regard for others and understood the impact one person can have on their community.  His family will tell you that Gene was only loud spoken because he was partially deaf.  He was partially deaf because Gene spent forty-four years employed at Remington Arms.  He invested those forty-four years at Remington so that he could provide his family with a consistent quality of life.  It was due to his parents professional and social involvement with in various communities, the numerous amount of people that comprised his church communities throughout the years as well as his time accrued with his employer that created the platform for Gene to know an innumerable amount of people.  No matter where he went people would always approach him if only to say hello.  He said that he was always known as Johnnie Kay’s husband or Cecil’s father.  Gene never missed an opportunity to engage in any outdoor interest he had.  One of these that he truly enjoyed was the “Art of Politics”.  Not one election year passed by that he didn’t freely give his time to any family member or friend decided to join a race to obtain a seat.  You see, Gene had no intention of running any type of race himself.  He laced his favorite tennis shoes to walk many many miles to shake lots and lots of hands.  On more than one occasion, he would be mistaken for the candidate he was campaigning for.    True to form, he always played the role to land that vote and quickly caught the road to the next episode.  Another battlefield he loved was the art of “Hog Ball” provided annually by the Razorbacks of the University Of Arkansas.  Given the high probability this is being read out loud by a Preacher standing behind a podium in a church, we will only focus on the positive effects game days provided for the Kinley household.  Other than the ten o’clock news, a Razorback game was a for sure way to experience “color picture programing” on Genes rather large liquid crystal flat screen television.  The programming for the remaining time of a calendar year was only filled with ancient black and white Westerns.  This drove his Son absolutely crazy.  He never understood the abuse of such technological advancement.  The last of his outdoor activities, but not the least, was his love for deer hunting. This was Genes time away his escape from another average day.  Despite the continuous talk of deerology or theory of a deer, his family knew that it was the fellowship with other camp members that kept him returning year after year.  This fact was not difficult to conclude since the deer meat that made it to his families table was primarily provided by Charlie, Dwight, Bill or Scotty.

Along with his parents, he is preceded in death by his step father Cecil V. Harper, England, and a sister Donna Kinley, England.

He is survived by his wife of 57 years Johnnie Kay Kinley, Lonoke, a son Cecil E. Kinley, Lonoke, and a sister Betty, husband Don, Majors, Atlanta, Georgia.  Gene was blessed with a hoard of nephews, nieces, great nephews and great nieces each of whom he dearly loved.  Finally, the two the sun shown on, Hiaram 10yrs old, Lonoke and the infamous Dash 5yrs old, Lonoke, better known as “The Boys”.

Dash 5yrs old, Lonoke, future attorney, has taken this opportunity to claim control of his interest.  “Anything that was Genes (AKA:  my tan paw paw) now belongs to me.  Especially the truck and the remote control power chair.”