A descendant of Revolutionary War, War of 1812, War for Texas Independence and Confederate soldiers, and whose father served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Fred B. McKinley embarked on a
long and distinguished career in the credit industry and retired with the Louisiana Department of Justice. A native of Beaumont, Texas, he graduated from Lamar State College of Technology (1964) and Lamar University (1987). Later he attended Louisiana State University (1995), where he received a law enforcement certification. McKinley, the author of The Yount-Lee Oil Company (M.A. thesis, Lamar University, 1987), has also contributed articles to The Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record, published in Beaumont, Texas; and to the national magazines of Country and Country Extra, both published by the Reiman Group in Greendale, Wisconsin. He is the father of three children, grandfather of three, and lives in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with Dottie, his wife of 32 years.