Journal entry by Colette Hoekstra —
Jason (Jay) Paul McKenney, age 46, stepped triumphantly into Heaven on January 16, 2021. His 8-year battle with Dedifferentiated liposarcoma is finally finished. He suffers no more, His miracle has come.
Jay leaves behind his best friend and soulmate, his wife of 25 years, Allison, and two precious daughters, Macy and Ava. Jay will be lovingly remembered by his parents, John and Donna McKenney; siblings Shelley McKenney, Mike McKenney, Josh (Kristi) McKenney, and his nieces and nephews.
Jay was born in Florida, moved with his family to Oregon in 1980. Jay graduated from Portland Christian High School in 1992, where he sang in the choir & ensemble, ran Cross Country and Track, placing 3rd in State in the 1500m. In addition, Jay was part of the basketball team that won the State Championship his senior year. Jay attended Mt. Hood Community College and furthered his education at Warner Pacific University where he graduated Summa cum laude in 2001 with a bachelor of science in music business.
Jay was an original member of the Christian a cappella quartet, RESCUE, where he was a singer/songwriter from 1996 to 2002. Jay was the Worship & Creative Arts Pastor at Sunset Presbyterian Church in Portland, Oregon from 2002 to 2016. Jay was the Worship Pastor at Grace Community Church in Gresham, Oregon from 2017 to 2018. In 2019, Jay became a full-time Health Coach with OPTAVIA.
Jay inspired a mantra - CONTEND. In his words, “It means you get back up, you keep moving forward. It means you’re growing and learning and taking 100% responsibility for your life. It means you keep choosing grace and not shame, progress over perfection. It means you’re not done, and the best of you towards others is yet to come.”
Due to COVID restrictions, the memorial service for Jay McKenney will be broadcast on January 30, 2021, at 1:00pm PT via a Livestream FB event (no FB account is required to watch.) Join the FB event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1020640705094348
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Jay's name to the Sam Day Foundation (www.samdayfoundation.org)
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Jay's name to the Sam Day Foundation (www.samdayfoundation.org)
A GoFundMe for his daughters' future education needs has also been made available. (https://www.gofundme.com/.../macy-and-ava-mckenney...)
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