Edna Charles Etta Menefee was a people person her whole life and held her family especially close.
Raised by her grandparents, whom she considered her mom and dad, she pledged to always care for them ? and her grandmother lived into her 90s. ?Mom took care of her the whole time,? daughter Toni Menefee said. ?She had made a promise to her that she would never be in a nursing home.? And she never was.
Charles Etta Menefee died Dec. 31 of complications of kidney disease. She was 70.
Her church was an important part of her life, lifelong friend Jenny V. Clack said. It was where the two girls met in Sunday school. They were both in the Girl Scouts and went to Camp Mira Sol together every summer, Menefee's grandfather transporting the pair to the Hill Country location in the back of his pickup.
Menefee graduated from Phyllis Wheatley High School and went to St. Philip's and San Antonio College. She started working as a teacher's aide at S.H. Gates Elementary and eventually moved into a secretarial position.
During summers she worked in the district's youth program at Gates. She always loved children, Clack said. She had worked in the church nursery as a teenager and had a lot of patience.
And when her own daughters went to school, she threw herself into their activities. ?She always was there for us,? Toni Menefee said. ?When we were in band at Sam Houston, she always made time to be there for us. Whenever we traveled she always traveled with us.? She noted that made it difficult for them to get into any trouble.
Daughter Val Menefee remembered vacations to the Cotton Bowl and the Texas State Fair. They'd arrive on a Thursday and stay in a suite where their mother could cook their favorite meals even though she was on vacation. ?Her specialty was her father's twice-baked spaghetti,? she said.
She looked forward to the Battle of Flowers parade each year, striking up conversations with strangers as they walked to the parade route, Val Menefee said. And her love of the Spurs and the Dallas Cowboys was well known. ?Don't even call her when they're playing,? Clack said. ?She won't talk to you on the phone.?
Val Menefee added, ?She was the best mother. ... She said she just wanted us to accomplish more than she did.?
mheidbrink@express-news.net
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