- Date Of Birth: May 14, 1924
- Date Of Death: February 10, 2021
- State: Texas
Beata Shaw McLendon, May 14, 1924 – February 10, 2021.
On Wednesday the 10th of February, 2021, Beata May Shaw McLendon, passed away peacefully at age 96. Services will be held at a later date.
Beata was born to Winifred Strauch and Charles Henry Shaw on May 14, 1924 in Woodsboro, Texas. She had 7 siblings. She spent her childhood living with her Aunts Maggie and Millie in nearby Refugio. She graduated Valedictorian from her high school in Woodsboro and attended the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas where she was Editor of the newspaper and graduated with a double major degree in English and Philosophy, and was again Valedictorian at her commencement.
After graduation she wanted to see the world and went to New York City to train as an American Airlines Flight Stewardess. She flew international routes and made the most of her travels, and was a pioneering woman in the first years after the Second World War.
She met her husband George Leland McLendon while he was serving as an airman in the Army Air Corps. They had 4 children, and lived in Richland Hills, TX before moving to Fort Worth, TX.
The family lived in Munich, Germany from 1969 to 1973 and later in Nuremberg, Germany. Beata greatly enjoyed life in Europe, about which she fondly told stories. She also enjoyed summers in their vacation cabin in Ruidoso, NM. In 1991 Beata and George retired to Belton, TX. They continued to travel extensively.
Beata was an ardent supporter of the Arts and Sciences, an avid reader and lifelong student, a tireless volunteer to the betterment of her community, and was a proud Democrat.
She served as an officer of the Texas Democratic Women Bell County Chapter, and served on the Board of the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens, where she helped organize the first Japanese Gardens Festival. She worked for the Texas Employment Commission and worked with the Hattie Street Project in Fort Worth helping impoverished individuals find appropriate work. She was active in The Woman’s Club of Fort Worth, the Kiwi Club, the Fort Worth Junior League, and loved serving as a docent for the Amon Carter and Kimbell Art Museums.
She was appointed to the Camp Fire Board in Fort Worth and received the Gulick Award. While living in Munich, Germany she volunteered for the Red Cross, and in Belton was active in the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, and served on the Bell County Library Board and the Bell County Museum Board, and was also President of the Serendipity Club.
She was an active member of the Trinity Episcopal Church of Fort Worth and served on the Women’s Guild of the church. Upon relocating to Belton, she and her husband were members of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and later joined the First United Methodist Church of Belton.
Known for her wit and humor, she had a quip for every occasion, or at least an apt quote of Shakespeare. She often spoke in a language that was uniquely her own, made of words and phrases which her family and close friends could understand. She placed intellect and empathy as the highest virtues, and in her actions in life embodied them. Her grace, humanity, and kindness made a permanent impression on all who knew her.
She was preceded in death by her husband George McLendon, and is survived by: Her two sisters, Martha Masdeo (Los Angeles, California), Mary Knox (Sherman, Texas); her four children, Nancy and her husband Gordon Strickland, Dr. George McLendon and his wife Dr. Carol Quillen, Colleen and her husband Clay Allen, and Tom McLendon; her nine grandchildren who knew her as Nana: Heather, Margaret, Audrey, Michael, Tavis, Alleene, Connor, Marcus, and Sophia; her six great-grandchildren; her many nieces and nephews; and those beloved friends of the family who were ‘adoptive’ children of the McLendons.
