Edith Clark Reece
Edith Clark Reece, 92, of Luling, passed away Friday May 20, 2011. She was born Nov. 18, 1919 in Prairie Lea to John A. and Minnie McCutcheon Clark. She graduated from Prairie Lea High School in 1937. She entered nursing school in the summer of 1940 at the M&S Hospital in San Antonio. She graduated in September 1943, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Army Nurs
e Corp.
She was stationed at the San Antonio Aviation Cadet Center, now Lackland AFB. Edith remained there throughout World War II serving in various wards in the vast hospital. Most of her patients were soldiers returning from war. One of her patients was a charming soldier who became her lifelong love, Stan Reece. They married May 2, 1945, in San Antonio.
Edith left the Army as a First Lieutenant in November 1945 and started a 29-year career as an Air Force wife. Stan and Edith traveled to Germany in 1946 and over the next almost three decades lived in various bases in Oklahoma, Texas, Maryland, Florida and Missouri. They were also stationed overseas in Japan and England, and twice in Germany. They retired from the Air Force in 1974 and after exploring numerous options, moved to Luling in February 1975 where they have called home for 36 years. Throughout their married life, Edith served as a homemaker, except for a short period in early fall of 1968 to May 1969, when she reapplied her nursing skills and worked at the City Hospital in Athens, Texas, while Stan was stationed in Vietnam.
She was the number one “child raiser” for their two children, Ralph and Jacque. Of their 29 years of military life, Stan and Edith were separated for more than six years when Stan was deployed.
Edith was a devoted and loving mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She ran a strict but loving home that was always crowded with kids from the neighborhood. She was a wonderful cook and her Christmas dinners were usually organized mayhem with rooms full of people eating and enjoying the holiday. Stan couldn’t make it through a holiday without Edith’s legendary mincemeat pie and homemade fruitcake.
She was an accomplished bridge player, never missing an opportunity to organize a game. She spent many an afternoon with close friends around a card table.
Edith was a survivor of the Great Depression, a passionate high school basketball player and later a tremendous San Antonio Spurs fan. She was a proud Registered Nurse, an Army officer and devoted wife of 66 years. She was part of the Greatest Generation and she will be greatly missed.
Edith is survived by her loving husband, Col. H. Stanley Reece, USAF (Ret.), of Luling; daughter, Jacquelynn Ann McMahon, of Killeen; son, Col. Ralph Gene Reece, US Army, (Ret.) and wife, Barbara, of Mansfield, Texas; sisters, Alta Armstrong, of Houston, Elizabeth Rutherford, of San Antonio, and Merle Parr, of Knoxville, Tenn.; grandchildren: Robert Scott Reece, Shanna Wright (Brian), Thomas Reece (Beth), John McMahon and Andrew Reece (Dinah); great-grandchildren: Avery Wright, Reece Wright and Harper Reece.
She was preceded in death by her parents, sisters: Frances Clark, Ruby Fielder and Pauline Collins; and brothers: Melvin, Wayne and Bryan Clark.
Funeral services were held at 10 a.m. Wednesday May 25, 2011, in O’Bannon Funeral Home with Pastor Pat Oringderff officiating. Interment was held in Prairie Lea Masonic Cemetery. Serving as pallbearers were Robert Reece, Thomas Reece, Andrew Reece, Brian Wright, Billy Brian Reece and David Reece.
The family had received friends at the funeral home Tuesday evening.
Memorials may be made to the Luling Kiwanis Club Scholarship Fund or the charity of one’s choice.
Services were under the care and direction of O’Bannon Funeral Home.
