Mary Mack Mccord

Our sweet Mom, Mary Mack (Spurlen) McCord, age 100, of Midland, Texas passed away on Wednesday, March 30, 2016.

Mom was born in Johnson County on February 27, 1916. She was the second born of six children of Frederick Mack Spurlen and Cora (Waggoner) Spurlen. She fondly remembered living in Hogtown on Hog Creek. Then the family moved to a farm in Eastland County. Like all kids of that era, she walked 5 miles to school, uphill both ways, in the snow, and had lots of chores to do after school. It was really only about a mile, and truth be told, she loved feeding the chickens and gathering the eggs. She helped watch out for the younger siblings and kept her Grandmother, who lived with them, company. She learned to sew and cook and plant a garden. Her family never knew strangers, and would gladly share the “garden sass” with strangers passing by.

She married Raymond S. McCord on July 17, 1936 and they celebrated 50 years of marriage before he left this earthly home in January of 1987. Together they raised 5 children. They lived in Eastland County until 1952, then moved to Odessa, Texas and built a home. She lived there until 2004 and was a faithful member of Second Baptist Church.

Mom didn’t have a job outside of the home for a paycheck; there was plenty of work to be done at home. She was never in the Junior League or even the PTA President, but she never failed to volunteer to make cookies or Rice Krispy treats, or sew a costume for a school play. Mom & Dad both went to all of our school programs and choir concerts. She could “do without” and live on a tight budget and squeeze a penny to stretch it even further. Mom even saved enough Gold Bond Stamps to get a new electric stove. She made time to visit with her next door and down the street neighbors, and she loved them dearly. Mother was amazingly kind and sweet and sum-what gullible. She was patient, selfless, generous, and slow to anger. She was a good listener and had a terrific sense of humor.

Mom had beautiful hands and used them to cook, wash dishes, hang clothes on the line, plant a garden, “put up” the apricots, make peach ice cream, and current cobblers. We preferred her butterscotch pies over cake for our birthdays. She could sew a three piece outfit out of a square yard of material and have enough left to make a matching bow and a piece for the quilt.(Virginia got her sewing gene from Mom.) She hemmed skirts, sewed buttons, crocheted afghans, knitted sweaters and taught her granddaughters to crochet and knit. She gave us perms and braided our hair, and ironed the boys’ blue jeans and Dad’s work shirts and even the pillow cases. She never painted her nails, but on Saturday night she would roll her hair in pin curls with bobby pins for church on Sunday morning. At the end of the day she loved to watch Lawrence Welk, Gunsmoke and Red Skelton and laughed until she cried watching Carol Burnet! And after that, she would write letters to her Mother, sisters and sisters-in-law.



After Dad died she spent time visiting her neighbors and going to family reunions.
Mom drove her car up until she was about 86. She would drive her Sunday School class members who no longer drove, to the Dr. and pharmacy and the beauty shop, and she even took a few road trips to visit her sisters.

She knew Jesus as her Savior, and though we are sad at her passing, we rejoice that she is now in Heaven and we will see each other again someday. There to greet her, besides Dad, are our brothers, Gene Edward McCord, their second born, who died on the day he was born, and Jerry Lynn McCord. She was also preceded in death by her Mom and Dad, one of her sister’s, Luva Glenn Drummond, her only brother, F. L. “Sonny” Spurlen, and 3 brother’s-in-law, 3 sister’s-in-law (Dad’s sisters) and their husbands, and 4 nieces and nephews. Mom was the last of the McCord in-laws.

Those of us left to tell her funny stories are Virginia Gregston and her husband, Jack, of Chandler, AZ.; Phil McCord and his wife, Karen, of Odessa, TX; Kathryn Speer and her husband, Dennis, of Alvin, TX; and Toni Livingston and her husband, Russell, of Midland, TX. She has 10 grand children and 7 great grand children. She also leaves behind her sisters, Addie Smith, Verda Eaves, and Bobbie Richardson and her husband Bill, Faye Spurlen who is her sister-in-law, and many nieces and nephews.

We would like to thank the caregivers and staff in the Mabee Center at Manor Park in Midland for taking care of her. She felt comfortable, safe and happy while there. Up until a couple of weeks ago she could say the days of the week, the months of the year, and count to 50 by 5’s. When she would get tired of counting, she would say “… and so on and so forth!” If a fellow resident had a problem she would pat their hand and say “it’ll be alright. She enjoyed the hymn singing on Sunday afternoon, if she was awake, and she was always ready to eat.

Graveside services will be at 2:00 P.M. at the Eastland Cemetery under the direction of Edwards Funeral Home in Eastland, Texas, where she will be buried next to Dad and Gene Edward. Her nephew, Billy Howard Upchurch, of Tomball, Texas will officiate the service.

We love you, Mom, we’ll miss you, but we will see you again on the “other side”. And Kathryn, we know Mom would want you to have the cherished empty “Cool Whip” container collection!