Sharon Lee (Allen) McKinney, D.O.

Sharon Lee (Allen) McKinney, D.O., 84, of Olathe and formerly of Topeka, Kansas, died on August 6, 2026, surrounded by her family.

Sharon was born December 9, 1941, in Los Angeles, California, to Floyd Edgar Allen and Ruth (Humphry) Allen, Presbyterian missionaries whose work carried the family around the world. She contracted polio as a child and lived with post-polio syndrome. She attended Mission Grade School in Cameroon and International High School in Geneva, Switzerland, then came back to the United States for college, earning her degree in Physical Therapy from the University of Colorado in 1962.

A college roommate introduced her to Joseph “Joe” McKinney. After a whirlwind romance they married on November 22, 1964, in Topeka, Kansas, where they settled and raised three children. Sharon rose to head the physical therapy department at Memorial Hospital. At 38, driven by a need to serve people more directly, she went back to school, earning her Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from the University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1983.

Physiatry, or rehabilitative medicine, was the care she had needed herself since childhood, and knew from the patient's side. She spent her career giving it to others. She completed her residency at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Topeka and was the first female physiatrist in the area outside the VA. She served on staff at Stormont Vail and St. Francis before opening her own practice in 1993, so she could offer the unhurried, one-on-one attention she believed patients deserved.

Sharon stayed busy outside the clinic. She made pottery, was an accomplished needlepointer and weaver, wrote poems, and for several years held a pilot’s license. She spoke fluent French and attended a French club. She was an active member of First Presbyterian Church in Topeka, where she sang in the choir. She loved the company of close friends and extended family. Not one to slow down in retirement, she traveled, read, worked puzzles, and spent countless hours on site at archeological digs and in the lab preserving artifacts for the KU Museum of Natural History.

Sharon will be remembered for her servant’s heart. She was practical, hardworking, and stoic, and she confronted challenges directly.

Sharon is survived by her husband of 61 years, Joseph “Joe” McKinney; children Moira Bishop (Tim Bishop), Arthur McKinney (Tara McKinney), and Colleen Mischke (Seth Mischke); 14 grandchildren; two great-granddaughters; her sister Loia Campbell (Jerry Campbell); and extended family and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Floyd Edgar Allen and Ruth (Humphry) Allen, and her sister Penelope (Allen) Silver.

Cremation is planned. A Celebration of Life will be held Saturday, November 14, 2026, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. at Cedar Lake Village, 15325 S Lone Elm Rd, Olathe, KS 66061.

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