Kenny Joe McMullen Memorial Services

UPDATED 6/18/2022

The Lord said unto Kenny Joe, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

On December 13, 2021, our beloved brother Kenny Joe McMullen left this world and returned home to glory. On Sunday, June 26, from 2:00 to 7:00 there will be a party celebrating what would have been Kenny Joe’s 66th birthday.  Events of this size come at a significant financial cost.   

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Due to lack of community support we had to cancel Kenny Joe’s Memorial scheduled for June 25th  In the fall when airfares have come down we’d like to bring Kenny Joe’s Birmingham family to Seattle for an Evening of Kenny Joe Stories. To do this, folks gonna need to church up around $4,000. Given Kenny Joe’s vested community status this is doable.

 

I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Kenny Joe in 1992. Back then, there was no roadmap on how to be gay. Especially b[KR1] lack and gay. Enter the Gay Mother, an elder Black gay man tasked with watching over and out for baby gays making their way through uncharted, often dangerous, unwelcoming, even deadly waters. 

Before meeting Kenny Joe, my gay life was entirely white and my black life altogether straight. It felt like I was straddling two boats, rowing towards opposite shores, leaving me no choice: choose one identity over the other or drown. Kenny Joe showed me how to build my own boat, where blackness and gayness were inseparable. Better was one day in his court than thousands elsewhere

 

 

SEATTLE MEDIUM OBITUARY

Kenny Joe McMullen — affectionately known as Kenny, Kin-ty, KJ, and the Mayor of Seattle — met his Heavenly Father on December 13, 2021 at the age of 65 years young. McMullen had just relocated back to Alabama in August 2021 to be closer to his beloved family and childhood friends. He was enjoying his well-earned retirement in his newly purchased home in the Ensley neighborhood of Birmingham, beginning the next phase of his life after decades of serving the community in Seattle, WA.

 

McMullen was born on June 26, 1956 to Mary and Joseph McMullen. He was the second of four children. McMullen attended Calloway Elementary School and G.W. Carver High School, graduating in 1974. McMullen matriculated and earned a liberal arts degree from Berea College in Berea, Kentucky in 1979. Following his college graduation, McMullen returned to Birmingham and began working in the food and beverage industry, most notably at Highlands Bar and Grill, fostering his love of food and service to others. Always an avid adventurer and traveler, McMullen relocated from Birmingham to Seattle in the early 1990s, where he continued service in the food and beverage industry, as well as the local community.

 

McMullen founded his own food creations catering and floral arrangement company, initially known as Food and Flowers, eventually becoming Kenny Joe’s Event Services. His community-centered entrepreneurial endeavors allowed him to do what he loved best; creating cultural cuisine and floral arrangements for all occasions.

 

For more than thirty years, McMullen was a faithful member of Mount Zion Baptist Church in Seattle, WA, where he was involved in the Brotherhood Chorus and the Floral Ministry. As a respected advocate for Seattle’s African American community, McMullen worked and volunteered in various capacities and initiatives, thriving as an organizer and activist.

McMullen was a founding member of Brother to Brother, which provided culturally-competent support to African American same-gender loving men during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, a field in which he worked for more than 25 years. During this time, McMullen served as the supervisor for the Minority AIDS Initiative Grant and Project HANDLE at Neighborhood House, a 115 year old social services organization offering care to those in the community most vulnerable to the spread of infectious diseases, substance abuse, and mental health concerns.

 

McMullen was also the coordinator and facilitator of two programs funded by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC): For Every Man at Seattle’s People of Color Against AIDS Network (POCAAN), and Voices/Voces at Neighborhood House. In addition to his HIV/AIDS activism work, McMullen was a passionate advocate for kidney health in the Black community, serving on the planning committee for the Kidney Health Fair for African American Families from 2002-2009. Prior to his return to Birmingham, McMullen worked to deliver meals for the Southeast Seattle Senior Center, and he supported COVID-19 relief efforts by partnering with Seattle’s Public Health Department, and the non-profit, Sisters in Common, to deliver masks and personal protective equipment to those in need, particularly Black-owned businesses and Black-led organizations.

 

McMullen is survived by his mother, Mary McMullen, his older brother, Lamar McMullen (Anna), his younger sisters, Wenona Renae Pearcy (Brian Scott) and Vicki Maye (John), as well as his nieces, nephews, cousins, and legions of extended family and devoted friends. He was preceded in death by his father, Joseph McMullen.

 

Stories and remembrances about McMullen are welcomed and can be shared at the following website: https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/gardendale-al/kenny-mcmullen-10492019 McMullen will be remembered by those who knew him as always having a smile on his face and a laugh in his heart. He could step off a plane, train, or bus anywhere in the world, and within minutes he would have several new friends, a place to get a hot meal, and a place to lay his head for the night if required. We will miss his gregarious laughter, infectious happy attitude, and love for life. Until we are reunited with him in His Grace, “Ciao for now!”