Emily Ethel Michael

Surrounded by her family, Emily Ethel Michael of Katy, Texas went peacefully to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, at 90 years of age on Sunday, November 26, 2017 at 9:40 AM. Emily was born in Ferndale, Michigan on February 13, 1927 to William Bernard Kalina and Emma Pauline Finkel. She had two sisters and a brother: Dawn, Elenore and Marvin. Her great grandparents immigrated from Germany in 1873. She was baptized Lutheran on April 17, 1927 and confirmed in 1941 at the age of 15. She was 18 when she graduated Lincoln high school in June of 1945. Her Father passed away when she was very young, and Emily worked many jobs to help support her family. These included selling oil door-to-door, working as a car hop, and working a Comptometer (key driven mechanical calculator) for the railroad.

Emily was married to Jack Russell McClune on March 14, 1948 in Los Angeles. Together they had two beautiful children, Sandra Lee and Steven Russell McClune. She was a wonderful, talented, mother and wife who continued working extra jobs to supplement the family income, so that her children would have special birthday and holiday celebrations. Capitalizing on her previous experience, she sold Amway, Tupperware, Fuller Brush, and Avon. Emily was quite the seamstress, making everything from the family’s clothes to toaster covers to sell for income. When Sandy brought two beautiful grandchildren into Emily’s life, Sharla in 1975 and Shannon in 1978, Emily spent many hours babysitting and caring for them. Eventually she worked as a waitress for the Chris & Pitts BBQ restaurant.

Her hobbies demonstrated Emily’s many talents and tremendous energy: home decorator, crafting, gardening, painting, dancing, music (accomplished organist), and an extraordinary cook and party planner. Her joyful outgoing, loving and caring personality drew many close friends to her wherever she went. Emily was always the life of the party and the source of its energy!

On July 1,1992 Emily was married to Norman Michael who brought her much joy and love in her later years, along with his three children, Donna, Susan and Glenn, and their families. Together Norm and Emily traveled around the country and really enjoyed life. Emily cherished all her new family members and touched all of them with her love and contagious joy.

God blessed Emily with 90+ full years of life. She was an angel and a blessing to everyone whose life she touched. Her spirit will shine on us all forever! May she rest in peace with her Lord and Savior in His glorious Kingdom of peace, comfort and joy, until we meet again. We dearly miss you Mom!

Emily Michael 1927-2017

Eulogy/Testimony by Sandy Bigoss

My mother always reminded me of Betty White - funny, witty, petite and people loved her.

She also reminded me of Jackie Kennedy when they were young - beautiful, thin and well dressed. Mom was beautiful inside and out.

I called her the energizer bunny, because she always had to be doing something. She couldn’t sit still. Mom was hard working and always running, whether she was sewing, gardening, planting flowers, shopping every day, painting with watercolors, keeping a spotless house, taking dancing lessons, playing the organ, cooking, planning parties, driving us kids around, visiting with the neighbors, crafting, decorating, and selling things door to door to supplement the family income. She never took the time to breathe and relax!

Mom was an extraordinary seamstress. Her sewing abilities included making her own clothes, my brother’s clothes and my clothes. We had the cutest mother/daughter matching dresses that made me feel special and grown up like her. She did alterations and sewed clothes for our friends and neighbors and sewed things to sell door to door. She made curtains for the entire house and bedspreads and dust ruffles and pillows. Every Christmas she would sew us new flannel pajamas and put them under our tree. I couldn’t wait to get those brand new soft flannel pajamas. Every time she made herself a new dress she was so proud of her work that she would ask me to take her picture under the backyard olive tree.

Mom decorated the house for every holiday. Everything around the house had to be perfect and look wonderful. You could feel the spirit of the holiday throughout the entire house. Most of the decorations were home made too.

She wanted to learn to play the organ, so she joined an organ club. They would have meetings, during which the group would play for each other, and every year they held a festival in Asilomar, California. It must have been in October, because they would also have a costume contest. Mom really loved to sew her own costumes, and they were always extremely creative. Some of them are captured on the video that’s playing.

I grew to love her talents and tried to be just like her. In writing this I now realize just how much Mom influenced me and how much impact she had on my own life.

When mom wanted something she was diligent and creative in meeting her goals. For example, her parents couldn’t afford to get her braces as a child, so when she was about 55 she went to work as a waitress, so that she could afford to get them for herself. Mom was so proud of the outcome and said it was the best thing she ever did. She passed on her financial wisdom by teaching us to work hard, save our money and plan for the future.

Mom tried to tell us she was shy when she was a little girl. Those who knew her over the years would say that’s impossible, because she was such a social butterfly. She set out to be a friend to everyone. Mom was always the first one to greet and help out a new neighbor. She would see a need and then meet it. She became your friend for life. Mom would always introduce me to her friends, and they would always tell me what a wonderful, happy, helpful, sweet, kind, and caring lady she was. They said she was a light in their lives and would tell me she always had a smile on her face. She was always smiling which I am sure drew people to her. Mom was always the life of a party. Even the store clerks around town here knew her by name. Her doctors loved her. Her family loved her. Her Heritage Grand friends, her YMCA friends and the staff and residents at Caydance all loved her. We all loved Emily very much. What a hard act to follow!

Mom did so much for me and my brother. She was born and raised a Christian in the Lutheran Church. She shared her faith with my brother and me, taking us to church and Sunday school every week. She got me involved in sewing my own clothes of course, dancing lessons, Brownies and Girl Scouts- helping me earn 27 badges, and supporting me in the drill team in high school. She got my brother involved with cub scouts, the little league, and high school football. She also attended all of our events, supporting us in whatever we did.

Mom had her favorite things too:

• Christmas song: Little Drummer Boy

• Color: blue

• Organ solo: Music box dancer that will be played at the end of the memorial service.

• Flower: all of them! She just loved flowers. She made sure there were always flowers blooming in her yard.

• Plants: the ones that flowered of course.

• Sayings: It sure is nice to have a man around the house.

• Bible verses:

◦ From Luke 6:31 “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”

◦ From Mark 12:31 “Love thy neighbor as thyself”

She was a wonderful mother and friend to all, an angel in life and now she’s making music with the angels in heaven for her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

We all miss you very, very much. Enjoy the bliss, and finally, rest in peace Mom!