With peace and contentment Ida Kelley McCorkle passed into God’s Glory during the early morning of June 3, 2014 in Sugar Land, Texas. Blessed with good health throughout her 88 years, stumbles causing two broken hips and a broken arm led to decreased activity and steady decline over the years. Even though bedridden during her last months, she was always cheerful, pleasant, comical, and full of life.
Born in (Old) Gulf, Matagorda County, Texas on October 18, 1925, she was the youngest of five children born to Mary Katherine (Ellen) Kelley and Robert S. Kelley. Raised in New Gulf and Boling Texas, she graduated from Boling High School in 1943. After which she attended Lon Morris College and graduated from Sam Houston State University with a degree in Chemistry. Following college she worked at the Texas Company in Port Arthur, Texas.
It was in Port Arthur, on a blind date, she met a sailor home after WWII. On August 23, 1950, she and her sailor, John Andrew McCorkle were married in Boling, Texas. Ida and John made their home in Bellaire, Texas. Following John’s death on September 24, 2008, Ida lived in her home and with her daughter in Sugar Land.
Ida enjoyed helping and serving as an active member, Sunday school teacher, and volunteer at Bellaire United Methodist Church. She taught at the School for Little Children, was co-founder and teacher at Southwest Special Education Center and volunteered in the VFW Women’s Auxiliary. She loved learning and loved to share. She especially loved children and was a dedicated mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother that always had something new to do or explore.
Ida lived a simple life, frugal and undemanding. She found joy in the things she did, the people she met, and places she visited. She enjoyed many days traveling and camping throughout Texas and the United States with family and friends. Cooking and collecting recipes, sewing, and coin and stamp collecting were favorite past times.
She was strong as an oak and flexible as a palm; enduring challenges with strength and confidence knowing storms pass and God’s love endures. Her legacy lives through her children: Kelley and wife Mary; John Michael (Mike) and friends Margaret and Carla; and Colleen Spencer and husband George. She is loved by many friends, her grand children Stephanie, Toby and wife Tish, John Roderic, and George Andrew; and great grandchildren Blake, Brooklyn, Kennedy, and Regan, and caregivers Lucy and Sarah and baby Elijah.
Friends are invited to join with family in celebration of Ida’s life and resurrection Sunday, June 8, 3:00 pm at Bellaire United Methodist Church and for viewing, visitation and interment Monday, June 9, 9:00 am at Forest Park – Westheimer.
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