Mary McKinney Teaster

My name is Mary Lee McKinney Teaster. I was born on May 16, 1937 to William A. (Bill) and Hilda Olive McKinney in Spartanburg, SC. East Cleveland Street, where I was born, and the houses that my grandparents and my family lived in are now a part of the Wofford College campus. The houses have been torn down and there is not even a plaque saying I was born there. I am now mostly known as Mary Teaster. Growing up, I hated being called a double name and the southern variations on that name (like Merlee). So, as soon as I left the confines of Glendale and Pacolet, I became just Mary Teaster. I am married to Gerald Teaster from Pacolet, SC.

(Click on this link to see biography of William Andrew McKinney and Hilda Olive McKinney with photos.)
(Click on this link to read more about my McKinney family and Glendale.)

I am a retired school secretary. Three months after high school graduation, I became Mr. V. M. Epting’s secretary at the Pacolet Area Superintendent’s office. School work got into my blood, partly, because Mr. Epting was such a great boss and instructor. All my working years have been in an education setting. After I left the Pacolet School, I worked at the University of S.C. as a secretary in the extension department until Gerald graduated from USC. I took off 16 years from the outside working world to raise four children while traveling through Georgia, Tennessee and Charleston, SC to finally settling in Summerville, SC. I went back to work in Summerville in a private school called Pinewood School. When it closed, I moved to the history department of the then Baptist College now Charleston Southern University. From there, I moved to Dorchester District Two public schools until I retired in 1998.

I have four children, five grandchildren, and nine great grandchildren, all of which I am very proud. My children are: Claudia T. Cordray, Teacher Trainer and Teacher; Raymond Teaster, Chemical Engineer, Co-owner of Brillig Systems; James Teaster, Architect, in Ashville, NC; Laura T. Vaughan, Middle School Teacher. I consider my secretarial work as a past time. My career has been having a part in raising these four wonderful people.

Gerald and I got interested in genealogy many years ago. We have a web site with the information we have gathered on Teasters and McKinneys thus far. It is addictive and you meet cousins from all over the country. I, also, have a lot of information on the Corns, Coats (Coats), and Hammetts.

For more information on my McKinney ancestors go to:(http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~teaster/).