In this town, Marti Funk is best known for keeping machismo-soaked wrestlers in line.

She is an outspoken woman who keeps her husband — Dory Funk Jr., a WWE Hall of Famer and master of the spinning tow hold  — on track and in his place. The Funks own and operate a professional wrestling academy in Ocala, and their typical workday involves body slams, smack talk, sweat, choke holds and organized aggression.

But the Funks’ latest project is far from the wild world of professional wrestling in the Funking Conservatory

. These are 41 gentle, dreamy oil paintings of quiet moments — boats adrift in lakes, geese in formation, cabins in snow, backyards in Maine and Heaven-kissed chapels.

Marti knows these works well, and talking about them sometimes brings a tear to her eye. You see, the Rev. McKinley is her father. He died in 2003, and this is the collection’s first public exhibit.

“Finally, they are getting a showplace. It’s emotional. Each one of these paintings represents a period of time — good times, bad times,” she said, recalling the family dynamics as he created each work.

He simply adored painting. “Probably,” Marti added with a laugh, “my college education is in those frames.”

McKinley was born in Canada and became a U.S. citizen to join the Marines, Marti said. He painted as a kid and became hooked after taking a correspondence course in 1926. He quit painting to serve in World War II (where he was injured in a Jeep accident on base) and then resumed painting in 1955, she said.

His daughter and her famous husband — THE Dory Funk, Jr. — also found their way into Marion County, and, Marti said, her father and husband shared a special bond. “Dory always supported him, even gave him a studio to work in,” Marti said.

Because of that relationship, there is one exception to the exhibit’s peaceful feel: Alongside the babbling brooks and winter sunsets is an oil painting of the Rev. McKinley’s son-in-law ruthlessly taking down Johnny Valentine in a 1972 match.

Click here to Learn more about Rev McKinley