Mary Lou (Flores) McClendon

Mary Lou McClendon, age 72 of Elkhart, passed away surrounded by her family on Saturday, May 30, 2020.  Mary was born October 27, 1947 in Victoria, Texas to the late Pete and Lena (Ponce) Flores.  In March of 1969, she married William McClendon in Angleton, Texas.  He preceded her in death, passing away in October of 2008.

Surviving are her sons, Whit McClendon and his wife Christina of Katy, Texas and Billy McClendon of Mishawaka.  Surviving as well are her grandchildren Tyler, Alyssa, and Connor McClendon.  Mary is also survived by her siblings Jim P. Flores, Joe P. (Carol) Flores, and John P. (Margo) Flores, Erlinda Pollock, Elizabeth (Henry) Cruz, Sandra Flores, Jeannie (Andrew) Kropp, and Robbie Caldwell.  She was preceded in death by her sisters Betty Salazar, Gloria Dunkin, and Sadie Bermea.

Visitation will be held from 10 am -1:00 pm Saturday, June 6, 2020 at Cruz Family Funeral Home in Osceola with funeral services to follow immediately after the visitation at 1:00 pm. Cremation will follow Mary’s services and the family will lay her to rest at a later time.  

Mary was a graduate of Wharton County Jr. College where she obtained her degree in Nursing.  Her natural gift for serving others was exemplified by her lifelong career in nursing, both in Texas and later in the Elkhart Area where she continually improved her knowledge and clinical skills to better serve patients.  She will be remembered by the nursing community as an extremely hard worker who was always willing to communicate not only with her patients, but the entire staff to see that proper care was given.  For her dedication to her profession, Mary received the 2007 Indiana/Kentucky Nurse of the Year award. Her career continued until just a few weeks ago before she was unable to continue on and retired.  In her spare time, Mary enjoyed spending time playing cards and games with her family.

Mary was also a compassionate caregiver to the less fortunate as well.  This led to her becoming a foster parent for children dealing with difficult circumstances who had been removed from their homes or from homes where they were unable to receive appropriate care.   She fostered many children back to a quality of life which allowed them to succeed with their biological parents or become adopted into a loving home.

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