Ella Mae Pachall McLain

Ella Mae McLain was born Ella Mae Pachall on November 8, 1924 in Madison County, Texas. Her Parents, Charlie and Lena Pachall lived on a farm in North Zulch, Texas. Also living in the same house, were Lena’s parents, Jody and Callie Vernon.

Ella Mae is a mixture of German and English decent. Her father, Karl Julius Pachall was born in Madison County, Texas to Gustav and Augusta Pachall.

Ella Mae and her brother attended school at Willowhole, a small community near North Zulch until the seventh grade. There were many Pachalls and Vernons who lived in the community, and they attended school with cousins and friends from neighboring farms. The Vernon farm was a gathering place for family members and friends. More than 100 family members and friends were known to gather for dinner at the Vernon place. Tables were made from saw horses and large slabs of wood. They were spread with tablecloths or bed sheets and filled with favorite dishes brought by everyone to share. Ella Mae had her share of large family gatherings, especially when they lived in Caldwell, Texas near most of the families. When her house got to small the gatherings moved to her children’s homes.

In 1936 Charlie and Lena moved to Big Springs. They lived in the home of Charlie’s dad, Gus Pachall. Ella Mae went to Center Point school and then to Big Springs High School. When she was attending school in Big Springs, she stayed with a family during the week and came home on weekends. For entertainment, they gathered at relatives homes for parties. She learned to drive on the Hwy in front of the Pachall Place when she was about 14. At 80 she was still burning up the highways.

Ella Mae’s brother Pete married Glynn Sheffield. Glynn and Ella Mae were more like sisters, than sister-in-laws. Pete worked as a carpenter, helping Daniel Vernon (Lena’s brother) drill water wells. Later he became a mechanic and worked for Halsell Motor Co. in Bryan, Brazos Co., TX. He retired from Halsell after forty years of employment. He served in WWII, including a year in Japan after the war was over. Carlton and Glynn had four children. Mother always said they would not have had any children if she and daddy had not had three children. Mary was born in August, 1942 and Wayne in Dec. 1942. Norma was born in May, 1944 and Hilda in Oct. 1944. Libby was born in Nov., 1946 and Tommy was born Oct. 1947. Wanda came along in Sept 1954. A nice surprise. The Sheffield family became part of Ella Mae’s family. Glynn’s brother, Norman, set up a blind date between Ella Mae and his good friend Joe McLain. When they told Norman they were getting married, he told Ella Mae that she could not marry Joe because Charlie Pachall would kill him for introducing them. They did marry on Sept 27, 1941, after dating for only a couple of months.

Joe’s first job in Houston was at Hughes Tool. Their first house had a living room, kitchen and bathroom. Mother had a double bed in the living room for her and daddy. All three girls slept in the kitchen on a roll away bed. That was the house Libby got hit in the head with the swing. We lived behind our cousins, Paul and Ronny Smith. We were all playing on the swing set at their house, and a bolt in the bottom of the swing hit Libby in the head. There was a lot of blood. At the same house Paul pulled the garage door down and Libby got pinned under it. That was not a lucky house for her. We attended Old Berry School with Paul and Ronny.

In 1952, Joe and Ella Mae bought a house off Homestead in Houston. Norma started second grade and I was in the fourth grade at Houston Gardens Elementary. After we made school pictures, we moved again. We finished those grades at Gardens Elementary school in Pasadena. We lived in the “Gardens” on Glenn Street. We lived there until a house behind that one on Richard Street became available. It had a garage and a little more room. There was a sidewalk that went beside both houses.

We moved some of the belongings down the sidewalk. On Richard Street mother and daddy became friends with the couple across the street, Dee and Courtney Melvin. Courtney’s nephew and his new wife moved to Texas from Missouri, and rented the house next door to us. Bruce was 21 and June was 18. They eventually moved to Deer Park, but have remained very close to the family. When mother and dad moved back to Pasadena from Caldwell in the 90s, they bought Courtney and Dee’s home in Deer Park, and became neighbors of Bruce and June once again. Dee was instrumental in getting mother and daddy into the First Christian Church.

Joe worked at Sheffield Steel, later Armco Steel, and mother and June went to work for WT Grant, a popular department store in the 50s. They visited the First Christian Church with the Melvin’s in the early 50s. Mother, Daddy, and all the girls became members of the church. Ella Mae became an active member, as part of the choir, became a deaconess, and served on several committees. Joe was a deacon in the church and was always available to help any way he was needed. Their three girls each graduated from high schools in Pasadena and took part in church activities. They were all married in the First Christian church and still show up occasionally.

Another very good friend of Joe and Ella Mae’s Tommy and Margie Monk moved to a newer part of Pasadena. They found a house near them that was for sale on Butler Drive, off Strawberry Road. Mother and daddy did the paper work and the house was theirs. There were so many memories in this house for Norma, Libby and I. We all finished high school, attended our senior proms, got married, and shared many Christmases and other holidays in this house. It was a second home for Kirk, when we came home from Florida. Mother baby sit while I went to school and found work. Christmas was interesting every year. We never knew what time Christmas would be, because everyone worked such odd hours. Joe and Norma’s husband worked shift work at Armco, Haney worked extra jobs for the Police Dept. and we had to keep all the kids up until midnight sometimes to open gifts.

There were a lot of years Joe’ company was on strike. During this time he work at other jobs, depending on how long he was out of work. He usually worked in Bryan, where he could work for cash money. Mother also took a job in Bryan at one of these times. She ran the “City Cafe”, located in a grocery store. She had the place full of customers in no time. In later years, she worked for J. W. Weingarten’s, Palais Royal, Iweco, and the Houston Post Credit Union.

When Joe retired from Armco, they moved to Caldwell, Texas. She was close to her mother and other family members in Caldwell, but always missed her church. We also made a lot of family memories in this house. It started out to be a trailer house. They had an idea to add on to the trailer to accommodate our large family. Haney drew the plans and construction began. I remember the day they cut a hole in the trailer to connect it to the new addition. Joe nearly had a heart attack. Haney cut the hole and we left to go back to Houston. Daddy worried the trailer was going to fall in on him without the support of that wall. When the house was finished you could not see the trailer, and it had a large covered porch from one end of the house to the other.

There were lots of family affairs held in that house. Once all of Joe’s brothers and sisters and their families; plus mother’s family were invited to eat stew cooked in an iron pot in the back yard. This was the grandma’s house for our grandchildren. They all got to ride the mower when it was time to mow the lawn. For Kali the mower was a good place to take a nap. The boys like to mow by themselves, whether the yard needed to be mowed or not. Karl and Daryl got to help put on a new roof. Karl said they did ok for an old man and two kids. For Daryl and Jimmy it was a place to ride their new three wheeler.

There was a lot of construction at this house. Everyone showed up to work, but there was always good food and a party. The Koloche Festival was a good time to visit. New Year’s Eve was usually Bruce, June, Haney, Mary, Joe and Ella Mae. It was a domino party and breakfast at two in the morning. One morning the guys wanted hamburgers at two in the morning. Mother would cook any time or place.

In the 90’s she and Joe returned to Pasadena and they both rejoined the First Christian Church family.

Mother enjoyed singing in the choir, the game night at the church and also she, June, Gwen, & Phyliss would get together at her home and play cards and eat snacks. They would play for hours until they were too tired to sit in those hard chairs anymore. She loved folding bulletins with Bertha and Vicki at the church on Tuesday’s and sometimes going to out afterwards to have lunch.

Online memorial tributes may be placed at www.grandviewfunerals.com