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Pointer Salutes:” Archives
Oyster
Pointer Salutes: Dr.
McKinley L. Price: A lifetime of giving back
By Karen Spaulding
 Usually
when you see the name of Dr. McKinley L. Price, a list of honors
and achievements is closely linked. Now he has one more to add,
after being honored as the Daily Press 2005 Citizen of the Year.
When you hear about the things he has done for our community and
the glowing remarks of people who work closest to him, you may wonder
why he didn’t receive this award years ago.
“There were some decisions made in 1992, when I was president
of the Newport News School Board, such as closing the bridge at
Peterson’s Yacht Basin in the East End—troubling at a
time when we had an all-white, all-male city council,” Price
explains.
Price was tapped to work in partnership with Herbert V. Kelly, elder
partner with Jones, Blechman, Woltz and Kelly, to bring together
black and white leaders in the community and promote positive dialogue.
They were successful and are still co-chairs of the group, called
People to People, still addressing critical issues and unifying
the community today.
“I don’t know of anybody more willing to contribute to
the community,” Kelly remarks. “He always does an outstanding
job, and devotes his whole self...he is always prepared to give
to others, and he is a wonderful friend.”
Another 90’s success story is Price’s involvement in An
Achievable Dream. A member of the school board when Walter Segaloff
introduced the idea, he was able to help move it forward, and continues
to serve as vice chairman on the board of An Achievable Dream.
Says Price, “It is amazing to see that something that started
as a summer tennis camp 13 years ago will soon have its own high
school!”
An avid tennis player himself, playing an average of twice a week
plus tournaments, Price calmly and humbly exudes pride in pet projects
such as these. And there are others, such as Unitown, which he helped
bring to Newport News five years ago. A program of the National
Conference for Community and Justice (formerly the National Conference
of Christians and Jews), it sends 50 high school students to a camp
to tackle tough issues, then share their knowledge with their school.
In addition to quietly and confidently fighting prejudice and division,
Price’s concern for those who do without is woven into his
daily life and his dental practice. From their office on Pilot House
Drive, Price and his partner of 28 years, Dr. C. Benson Clark, continue
to practice cutting-edge dentistry. But for the past five years,
Dr. Price has also been active in the Virginia Dental Association’s
Mission of Mercy (M.O.M) which sends dental students and volunteer
dentists to Wise County and the Eastern Shore of Virginia.
“March is my month, and it’s usually a day or two at a
time, on the weekends,” says Price, who recently returned from
the Eastern Shore, where the high school wood shop serves as the
operative area for patients who begin lining up before dawn for
free dental care.
In February, M.O.M teamed with R.A.M. (Remote Area Medical) and
sent 120 dentists from 39 states, including Price, to New Orleans,
where outside tents on the zoo grounds served as a safe, dry home
base to treat 3,500 patients in one week.
“People in the local jail also needed our help but couldn’t
leave the premises, so I worked at the prison for four days,”
Price explains.
A pattern of serving others reaches far back in his family heritage.
Price’s great-great grandfather, Reverend Thomas Poole, “was
founder of the first organized religion in Newport News, ‘First
Church of Newport News’ (Baptist), now located on Wickham Avenue.”
Married since 1974, he and his wife have two children. McKinley
II is doing his residency in oral surgery at Howard University,
and his daughter, fresh from a stint in the Governor’s office
in Washington, is preparing to attend seminary.
Currently on the board of Riverside Health System and chairing the
board of its foundation, Price has served on boards ranging from
banks to bridge-tunnels. Not surprisingly, Price plans to donate
the $1,000 given to him by the Daily Press to People to People.
It will undoubtedly multiply, coming from someone who seems to have
a knack for watching things evolve from a tiny idea to a tremendous
success. |
