Marion Lawrence McIlhaney

Marion Lawrence McIlhaney, on April 28, was received into Heaven and embraced by the Lord Jesus Christ, whom she loved intimately and followed faithfully. Marion, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2010, lived with her husband, Joe, at The Legacy at Willow Bend in Plano, TX, for the last eight years of her life.

Marion was born in Chattanooga, TN, on September 28, 1937, to James Ethridge and Hughie Cleckler Lawrence. She graduated from City High School in Chattanooga and four years later from Baylor University with a major in Education.

Following graduation, she began teaching sophomore English at Spring Branch High School in the Houston area. Within a month, she met Joe on a blind date and, 8 ½ months later, on June 9, 1960, they began their 57 years and 11 months of marriage. Marion’s commitment of love for her husband was profound and lifelong. That commitment of love spread over her three daughters, Lynne, Anne and Caren. Her deep and uncompromising love was shown in her pride in her ten grandchildren. Family was the light of her life and her greatest life work.

Marion was a magnetic person. Her deep faith in her Jesus was the wellspring for her life, for her joy, for her smile and for her warm love of those around her. She brought joy into the lives of everyone who came across her path, including those she mentored and taught, those she attended church with and those who attended her in her final years.

She was a master teacher -- first for the classroom, then for the many women’s Bible studies she taught and for the Christian Women’s Club meetings she spoke for.

Marion was preceded in death by her brother Jay Lawrence. She is survived by her husband, Joe, by her daughters, Lynne Lutz, Anne McIlhaney, and Caren Hoehner. She is also survived by David Lutz and David Hoehner, her sons-in-law and by ten grandchildren: Hannah Lutz, Addie Lutz, Caleb Hoehner, Joseph Hoehner, Benjamin Lutz, Christina Hoehner, Sarah Hoehner, Luke McIlhaney, Jonathan Hoehner and Daenta McIlhaney.

There will be two memorial services for Marion. The first will be at 10:00 AM on May 10 at Christ United Methodist Church at 3101 Coit Road, Plano, TX, 75075. The second will be the following day, May 11, at 1:00 PM, at Austin Ridge Bible Church, 9300 Bee Cave Road in Austin, TX, 78733. There will be a family burial in the National Cemetery in Dallas, Texas, on the afternoon of May 10. Memorial donations may be made, in lieu of flowers, to the Medical Institute at www.medinstitute.org.