Mrs. Lillian Jean Clendening's Obituary
Clendening, Lillian Jean Plank, of Richardson, formerly of Waco, passed away on Wednesday, January 5, 2011. Visitation with the family will be Friday, January 9, 2011 at Restland Funeral Home in Dallas. Services will be held Saturday, January 8, 2011 at 3 p.m. at Wildwood Chapel, Restland Funeral Home in Dallas. Jean was born on August 12, 1927 to Jesse and Daphne Plank in Fairview, Oklahoma. She graduated from Fairview High School in 1945. A gifted pianist, Jean attended Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas for one semester, Oklahoma College for Women in Chickasha for one semester and completed her college education at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. She graduated from OU in 1950 with a degree in music education. While attending OU, Jean met the love of her life, Charles Clayton Clendening, Jr. of Bruceville, Texas. They met on a blind date at the Poppy Dance and it was love at first sight. They married on August 5, 1949 at the First United Methodist in Fairview, Oklahoma. Jean chose to be a homemaker after graduation from OU, moving often with Charles throughout Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana as he began his career as a geophysicist. In 1955-56, they settled in Houston. Jean would follow Charles on to Hurst, a suburb of Dallas-Ft. Worth in 1968, then Stavanger, Norway in 1976, then Littleton, Colorado, a suburb of Denver, in 1982, and finally retiring with him in Waco, Texas in 1988. Jean was a beloved mother to four daughters, beloved grandmother to ten grandchildren and beloved ‘G-G’ to one great-grandchild. She will be greatly missed. Jean is survived by her brother Charles Robert Plank of New York; her daughters Tamara Bonnet and husband David of Richardson; Stephanie Smith and husband Billy of Bedford; Carol Frazier and husband Bill of Spring; Denise Bortolussi and husband Shawn of Lago Vista; ten grandchildren Jonathan, Erin, Brian, Meghan, Rachel, Logan, Ryan, Reid, Isabella and Nina; and one great-grandson Braidon. Memorials may be made to The American Foundation for the Blind.
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