Dolores "Kit" Hendricks

Dolores Ann “Kit” Hendricks, beloved and cherished wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, sister, teacher, coach, artist, and friend, passed away on July 16, 2026, after a courageous 11-year battle with multiple myeloma. She was 64.

Born Dolores Ann Rombuck on November 29, 1961, in Braddock, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Kit brought warmth, creativity, determination, and joy to every chapter of her life. She grew up with a generous spirit and a gift for making people feel seen, encouraged, and loved.

Kit moved to Texas with her family when she was 12 years old, where she met her future husband and love of her life, Gary, at Bowman Jr. High and on the City of Plano Swim Team. Kit and Gary graduated from Plano Senior High School in 1979. Kit went on to earn an associate degree from Richland Community College.

On August 8, 1981, Kit married her high school sweetheart and love of her life, Gary Clinton Hendricks, at First Presbyterian Church in Plano, Texas. Together they built a beautiful life rooted in devotion, family, faith, and shared adventure. Their home in Parker, Texas, and their shared love for their mountain home in Red River, New Mexico, reflected Kit’s love of family gatherings, mountain beauty, creative work, and the simple joy of being together.

Kit dedicated a lifetime to teaching generations of Texans how to swim. She shared her patience, energy, and love of the water with others as a Learn to Swim and water aerobics instructor for the City of Plano Parks and Recreation, a swim coach with City of Plano Swimmers (COPS), and as a private swim instructor. She had a rare ability to teach with both skill and kindness, helping children and adults gain confidence, strength, and joy in the water. Her patience and enthusiasm touched countless lives and launched many collegiate swimming careers.

A lifelong learner and maker, she later continued her creative study through ceramics and pottery classes at Collin College, where she developed her love of hand-built clay work that deepened into a beautiful artistic practice. As a gifted ceramic artist whose hands shaped beauty from clay, she created hand-built vases, bowls, and other fine art pieces, developing a distinctive body of work that reflected both her love of nature and her imagination. Her art was shown and sold through art galleries including Aspen Gallery in Taos, New Mexico, and Mountain Treasures in Red River, New Mexico, as well as online through HMH Art Studios. In 2024, her work was recognized at the Texas State Fair with First Place in Decorated Ceramics for hand-built flower vases, along with Second Place awards in Originals in Clay for bowls and vase work. Her work left a legacy of beauty that will live on in homes across the country.

Those who know Kit will remember her as creative, strong, loving, and quietly remarkable. She brought beauty into ordinary spaces, whether through her piercing blue eyes that lit up a room, her bright smile on the dance floor, a handmade bowl, a lesson in the pool, a word of encouragement, or the way she gathered family close. She loved with intention, worked with care, and left behind pieces of herself in the lives she taught, the art she made, and the family she cherished.

Above all, Kit’s greatest masterpiece was her family. Kit is survived by her beloved husband of nearly 45 years, Gary Clinton Hendricks of Parker, TX; She was deeply proud of her children and grandchildren. She loved her son, Robert R. Hendricks, and his wife, Sarah of Richardson, Tx, and delighted in her grandchildren Theodore “Teddy” Hendricks and Roberta “Bobbi” Hendricks. She loved her daughter, Emily B. Berg, and her husband, Patrick of Goldthwaite, TX and treasured her grandchildren Tackett Berg and Stockton Berg. She loved her mother, Dorotha “Dot” Mary Rombuck; and her sisters, Juli Rombuck and Dorotha “Mike” Monfore. She was preceded in death by her father, Robert Paul Rombuck. Her family was the center of her heart, and she poured herself into their lives with tenderness, humor, encouragement, and unwavering love.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, August 1, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. at Ted Dickey West Funeral Home, 7990 President George Bush Turnpike, Dallas, Texas 75252. In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests that donations be made in her honor to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

Kit’s memory will live on in the family she adored, the students and swimmers she encouraged, the friends she embraced, and the beautiful art she leaves behind. Her life was a work of love, and that love remains. Her warmth, creativity, and bright spirit will be deeply missed by all who knew her.