Obituary of McClelland, Connie May Logan

Connie May Logan McClelland passed away on Thursday, February 25th, 2021, in Dallas, Texas. She is finally at rest following her almost 20-year fight with Alzheimer’s Disease. A beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and friend, Connie was born in Inverness, Mississippi on Friday, July 10th, 1931 and was the personification of the nursery rhyme verse, “Friday’s Child is loving and giving.” Connie was born to Richard Benjamin and Harriet Elizabeth Logan, the third daughter in a family of 4 girls and 3 boys. Close to her entire family, she was especially close with her 3 sisters: few things in life gave her more joy than joining them for fierce Bridge games, endless hours of bargain and treasure hunting, or just visiting around a kitchen table during her summer visits home. Like each of her sisters, she went to nursing school and earned her R.N. degree. Armed with that, she and her sister Bennie Sue came to Dallas in 1954 and joined Parkland Memorial Hospital. By 1957, she was a respected head nurse. That autumn, Bob McClelland, a young surgical resident, finally got the courage to invite on a date the beautiful young nurse who had caught his eye months before. A first date at Dallas’ iconic Lakewood theater began a loving relationship that led to their marriage at Oak Lawn Methodist Church on May 5, 1958. Their 60-year marriage produced three children: Robert Christopher, Alison, and Julie Logan. They settled in Highland Park where Connie enjoyed a busy life filled with raising her children, playing bridge, working with the medical wives auxiliary, running the business end of her husband’s medical journal, and finding time to teach herself the stock market! Once her grandchildren were born, it was the seven of them who gave her the most joy of all. ‘Grandmama & Pop’ saw their local grandkids almost daily for many years and visited the out-of-town ones every chance possible. Grandmama was ‘notorious’ for her [off-key] singing, her love of crossword puzzles and reading [especially ‘romance’ novels], her [Stouffer’s] lasagna, ice cream for breakfast, and her failure to understand that grandchildren’s’ birthdays occur only one day a year. In 2008, her early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s forced her husband and family to make the difficult decision to entrust her to the care of Presbyterian Village North, where she would remain until her death last Thursday. For the professional and compassionate care, they gave her daily, we are extraordinarily grateful. For the years she was robbed of by this terrible disease, we will forever mourn the loss. Connie was preceded in death by her parents, her three sisters Janie Moor, Bennie Sue Logan, Erma Joyce Jarrett, one brother Jack Logan, and on September 10, 2019, her devoted husband, Robert Nelson McClelland, MD. Two of her brothers remain to treasure her memory, Tom Logan (Charlene) and Terry Logan (Beverly), as does Mattie Sue Bean, who joined our family in 1973 as mom’s right hand and our ‘other mom’. Connie’s legacy will carry on through her children Chris [Ann], Alison, and Julie Barrett [Patrick], her seven grandchildren: Megan Moss [Sam], Scott Yoste, III (Kelsey), Thomas Yoste (Melissa), Caroline McClelland, William Yoste (Madeleine), Sophie Barrett, and Dexter Barrett, and one great-grandchild, Mary Margaret Moss, whom she would have absolutely adored. A visitation will be held from 2-4 on Wednesday, March 3, at North Dallas Funeral Home, 2710 Valley View Lane, Dallas, TX 75334. Connie will be laid to rest next to her husband, Bob, in a family graveside service on Thursday, March 4, at Greenwood Cemetery in Uptown Dallas. The family requests that memorials and gifts be made in Connie’s name to The O’Donnell Brain Institute at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, where Bob was a beloved professor and surgeon for almost 60 years. Please designate for ‘Alzheimer’s Disease Center.’ Online giving is available through UTSW or may be mailed re: Tribute Gifts to UT Southwestern Medical Center, Office of Development & Alumni Relations, P.O. Box 910888, Dallas, TX 75391-0888, Phone: 214-648-2344