Velma Faye McClure

Many of you had the honor to know her or meet her.  A tough lady born in a 12'x 12' adobe shack on the Flying H ranch outside Dexter, NM, to a cow puncher father and a mother who did laundry and alterations. She was a child of the great depression who, with her three brothers and one sister, picked cotton and did odd jobs to help the family get by in those hard times.

Raised in the Tularosa Valley of New Mexico; where her father ran a pool hall and worked in a variety of peace officer roles such as, BIA Marshal, NM Game Warden, Deputy Sheriff and others; winning repute throughout the state as fast on the trigger and slow to back away from a fight-- mom had a lot of her dad in her.   Her grandfather build the first non-Catholic church in the area at La Luz. They first lived in a one room adobe built in the late 1700's situated just behind the bank and then they moved: the parents into a two room adobe and the kids outback in a clapboard shack that sat a few feet off the ATSF Railroad tracks.  It had a dirt floor, no running water and no electricity.  A rope ran down the middle with blankets hanging off of it to separate the girl's side from the boy's side.

She met my father during the early days of WWII at the USO Hall that served the Deming Army Air Field.  They were married soon after in San Antonio, Texas.  She waited stateside and worried, with the Western Union telegram in her nightstand that stated: "The Secretary of War desires me to express his deep regret that your husband, Lt. J. C. McClure, has been reported missing in action since February over Germany."  She received that telegram in April.  He escaped occupied Europe and returned to her late 1944.

She had two sons and after she finished raising them, she started to college in her sixties. I had the distinct pleasure of attending some classes with my mom at UNM and she graduated with a history degree, putting more than a few young professors in their place with: "That's not how I remember it, and I was there," while charming the rest to the point that I had one reduce my grade from an A to a B because, as he told me when I showed up in his office, "I just can't give you a higher grade than your mom, it might dispirit her!"

She had spunk and grit, yet was a charming lady and was always the most gracious of hosts and the consummate Commanding Officer's Wife.  From the days in France living in a small trailer when she got me cowboy boots to run around in and we played with my army men on the floor, to the time in my twenties when we had to say goodbye to my father; we shared good times and bad.

We shared adventures all over the world from Alaska to England and countless places in between. From her inability to back down from thugs, which damn near got me killed on the waterfront in Seattle, to her patient love; like that shown to my dogs as she watched over them during my deployments with the feds and the military. As a matter of fact, up until just a few weeks ago, she was still asking about Strudel and worried over her when she was sick.  Strudel loved her a great deal as well and I would take her to visit until Strudel also got too old and infirmed to travel.  

Her humor and ability to laugh until she cried was so fun to watch and she could shock you with little tidbits she inexplicably kept to herself until one day they would fall out of her mouth and astound.  One such example, was when I was watching a documentary on Hitler's V-2 rocket program and its chief scientist SS Sturmbannführer Wernher Von Braun.  "He was such a nice man," she said matter of factly.   "Hitler!" I gasped.  "No," she replied, "Wernher."  Then she told me the story of how she was his secretary at Ft. Bliss/ White Sands, as he developed our rocket program and the start of what would lead eventually to our Apollo space program!  Then she would make you shake your head and bust out laughing with some of her insights such as: while she and dad and I were watching a pro football game, the QB was sacked and the announcer said,  "Another great play by a five time pro-bowler."   She looked at dad and I and said, "It's amazing a man that big could be a professional bowler and a football player!"    God I loved my mom.    

She was my best friend and my steadfast supporter and confidant.  When I returned from OEF, I bought a house a few streets south of her and was there almost every day as her days and nights became increasingly difficult.  I learned a lot about myself and her in those waning years and though there were plenty of stress filled days, there was more than enough good times and joy to balance it all out.  It was an honor and a Godly duty that I am sure I fell short on in so many ways, but I hope she will forgive me my shortcomings and know that I tried to do my best. I will never be able to fill the chasm that her departure has left but will try with the unconditional love she bestowed on me.  

I did get to speak with her just before she left to be with the Lord and she was able to tell me she loved me and I could only say, "Thank you, I love you too."  That was important though, and I am so grateful to have had that moment and all the thousands of others that will be with me until, with God's blessing and grace, I can join her and the rest of my family gone before me.

Pray for her soul, now departed.  Thank you for your support, and please pray for my brother and his family as well.    

Funeral Services will be held Friday, November 14, 2014 at 10 a.m. at St. Michael & All Angels Church 601 Montano Rd. NW, Albuquerque, NM 87107. Interment will take place at Santa Fe National Cemetery, at 3:00 p.m. on Friday.In lieu of flowers donations can be sent to the Black Bear Bureau at PO Box 36198, Albuquerque, NM 87176    The BBB is a Federal 501c3 non-profit and all donations are tax deductible.  http://www.blackbearbb.org. To view information or leave a condolence, please visit www.danielsfuneral.com

Daniels Family Funeral Services
7601 Wyoming Blvd NE
Albuquerque, NM 87109
505-821-0010