Virginia Lee McClure (93) was born to Robert and Gertie Duren on January 10, 1930, in Wasco, California. The Duren’s, joining with several other families in a caravan, had just traveled from the Stigler, Oklahoma region to California as part of the great migration of people moving West seeking jobs and opportunities. Virginia recalled the family working in the fields and living in tents during the Second World War, being told to keep the lights off at night for fear of Japanese bombers, and proudly telling how her mother Gertie could pick as much cotton as any man. During this time period, the family moved back and forth between California and Oklahoma several times, her mother Gertie died of a sudden illness, and Virginia graduated from high school in Stigler in 1950.
After graduation, Virginia met her future husband, Hubert McClure, and they were wed in a single-ring ceremony on February 18, 1954. Virginia never removed this ring from her finger and still bore it on the day she passed, July 10, 2023, which was some 27 years after Hubert’s death from cancer.
Virginia was a remarkable woman for her character and personality. She was never known to bad-mouth anyone or talk down to anyone, and she always looked for good in others. An endless dynamo of energy, her house, and property were always absolutely neat and tidy, and she labored long and hard daily. A teetotaler and non-smoker all her life, her Christian faith manifested in universal charity and friendship for all, having never met a stranger. She had no interest in what she termed “fancy” things or foods and even once famously remarked, “Eating is a waste of my time.” Fiercely independent, she did things her way.
Known as the family historian, Virginia took a lifelong and keen interest in her kin, staying close to all her siblings and her extended family. She and Hubert had two children, Elaine and Heath, and settled for many decades in Bakersfield, where she was mainly a homemaker but also, for a time, a preschool teacher. Eventually, they retired to Sallisaw, Oklahoma. After Hubert’s passing, she moved to Madera, California, to be near her son and his family and, “Be a help”. There she was a long-time member of the Madera Ave. Bible Church and had a tight circle of elderly friends known as the “Grey Ladies.”
On June 5th, 2021, Virginia fell at her home when she was watering outside and broke her neck, and suffered a severe heat stroke, which accelerated her growing dementia. She was then confined to a wheelchair and lived at the Cedar Creek Senior Living facility in Madera for the past two years. Here she was very popular with the staff for her kindness and old-time Southern charm. After a brief illness from an infection, she passed from this life on July 10th, 2023, and went to receive her reward and reunite with her loved ones gone before.
Virginia is survived by her daughter Elaine Ortega of Blanchard, Idaho, and her son Heath McClure and his wife Annie of Madera, California. Her four grandchildren, several great-grandchildren, two remaining siblings, Travis Duren in Rogers, Arkansas, Bobbi Bryce in Sallisaw, Oklahoma, and many nieces and nephews. She was a beloved wife, and beloved mother, and she will be greatly missed.
Saturday
August 5, 2023
1:00 PM
Jay Chapel
1121 Roberts Ave
Madera, CA 93637
