Mary Louise McClung

Mary Louise McClung died on 1 January at Northeast Florida Community Hospice in Jacksonville, with her daughter by her side. She had resided at Taylor Care for more than three years. One of seven brothers and sisters, she was born September 9, 1925, in Poplarville, Mississippi, to Clara and Forrest Amacker.

Hearts across time and terrain felt the loss of Louise, for in her life, she mended countless. She was a guardian of secrets; consoler of the troubled; healer of hurt; protector of the weak and the queen of offering a second chance.

She was an earthly moon to which people were drawn like the tide, her quiet humanity and attentive ear warm blankets of comfort. She held close thousands of others’ tellings, scrapes of pain, bits of want, pieces of dreams and hopes for joy, housing them in a spot that must have been overflowing yet always found room for the next in queue.

The woman could make something from nothing, peace from discord and a party from popcorn. She was a beauty but thought not.

Her Southern-to-the-core nature found its way into her kitchen, spilling over the ingredients that transformed the simplest culinary creations into earthly delights on a plate. Her cheese pennies, teacakes, yeast rolls, roast beef with potatoes, fried chicken, and desserts could bring a grown man to his knees; every bite was curative and tasty magic, with powers often superior to any antidote of a medical sort.

If you couldn’t come to her table, the repast would find its way to yours, usually delivered still steaming by her own hands.

The door to her home was always open. She was devoted to family and friends, valuing each among them as one would a great treasure. She served as the first female elder of Summersville Presbyterian Church and her years-long connection with its members was as strong as shared genetics.

She and the love of her life met on a streetcar in New Orleans during WWII, going on to share 64 years of marriage in the beautiful hills of West Virginia. Of those precious to her, she prized no one more than her husband Gale, AKA Mac, L.G. His death left a pit of grief that was bottomless, and with good reason; as fitting their first encounter, their love for one another rivaled the stuff of romance novels.

Among legacies to her beloved daughter Susan are a funny nose, dogged determination, an attitude when called for and a heart easily stirred; between the two was edgy tenderness that found its way into a completely shatterproof bond of love.

Those who will grieve the loss of her to the end of their times are daughter Susan; sister Carrine Turnipseed; sister-in-laws Sharon Ellison, Grace McClung and Lenore McClung; nieces and nephews and their families; and countless admirers and friends fortunate enough to cross her path.

There won’t be another Louise.

Memorials to honor her may be made in her name to the Summersville Presbyterian Church, Summersville, WV 26651

Arrangements entrusted to Hardage-Giddens Funeral Home 729 S. Edgewood Ave, Jacksonville, FL