Claudia White Mandabach, 95, heard her last aria and passed away peacefully on June 19, 2018. She was born in Crystal City, Texas on November 16, 1922 and pronounced the cutest baby ever. She was named after her Aunt Claudia, the other cutest Claudia in Texas. She was bright, beautiful mother of 6 who lived a life full of traveling to all the continents in world, loving her family, flower arranging, music loving, opera watching, gardening, art, church, history, writing/ literature and of course enjoying all the food and wine along the way.
She was proceeded in death by her husband Paul, daughter Janice, Sister Mildred Alice, mother Laura Stroman White and Father Robert Benjamin Dexter White. She is survived by her five sons Paul III (Fitra), Mark (Tracy), Keith (Laura), Carl (Sabine), Brian (Lee). She has 8 wonderful grandchildren Marisa, Jonathan, Irene, Lindsey, Meagan, Graydon, Sarah and Andy, and blessed with 3 great grandchildren.
Her mother Laura raised her two working as a secretary and bookkeeper in San Angelo, TX. Claudia and her sister Mildred Alice were very close and spent summers in Texas hill country, climbing trees at Gramma Stroman’s in Uvalde and playing with her cousins. Both Claudia and Mildred Alice became college educated and Claudia credited her academic, professional and personal success to her mother’s hard work and the strong Stroman family support. She remembered writing as a child at the Trinity Methodist Church and it was always an important part her life. Claudia graduated from San Angelo H.S. in 1939, San Angelo Community College in 1941, and University of Texas, Austin in Journalism in 1944. She promptly went to work for the San Angelo Standard Times as a reporter.
In 1947, Claudia was set up by her good friend Twinkie on a blind date in Chicago watching the White Sox play the Tigers with an advertising executive, Paul Mandabach. That advertising executive turned out to be the love of her life. Paul loved to tell the story that Twinkie told Claudia he was a great guy but was not rich enough for her to marry while she told Paul that Claudia was pretty but did not mention her smarts or wits. They married in Chicago in 1948 and moved to Barrington, IL to raise 5 boys and one girl. Together they built a successful advertising career for Paul, a strong home for their children and explored their passions in life together. She and Paul were lifelong members of the Chicago Lyric Opera and traveled extensively often focusing on visiting the best vineyards in the world. They started a wine rating magazine, OMNIVIT Int. which was sold to Wine Spector. Claudia herself was active in the Barrington United Methodist Church, Field and Flower Garden Club, Ikebana Japanese Flower arranging played golf at Thunderbird Golf Course.
Paul passed suddenly in 1985 but being a young widow did not hold Claudia back. She continued to keep her extended family important by traveling to Uvalde, Texas every summer to attend her Stroman Family Reunion. She also kept close to all of her children and grandchildren. She chose to move to Lake Barrington Shores and also wintered in Tucson, Arizona where she was active at ST. Phillips Church. She completed the world travel bucket list she and Paul had dreamed of, and developed an interest in archelogy and anthropology along the way. She joined writing groups in both Barrington and Tucson and continued competing in flower arranging competitions in traditional and Japanese disciplines. While dementia would begin to take her mind later in life she still relished every day until her body let go to let her join her husband, mother and sister. Cremation at her request has already occurred and a memorial service will be held at a later date. At her request in lieu of flowers that donations be made to the charity of your choice or her favorites: Garret Theological Seminary Paul and Claudia Mandabach Scholarship fund at Northwestern University, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Barrington, IL/Uvalde, TX, or Trinity, San Angelo TX United Methodist Churches.
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