Mari Helen Clement

Mari Helen (Dunavan) Clement, 97, passed away peacefully on February 2, 2021 in Era, Texas, surrounded by family. She was born in Parsons, Kansas, on Oct. 21, 1923 to Merle and Helen Dunavan and grew up on a farm near Ashland, Illinois. As an adventurous young woman, she left the farm and moved to Chicago. On a trip home she met and eventually married a young WWII Army Air Corp pilot from Concord, Illinois. Over their years together, she and Major William Clement, USAF, lived San Marcos and Houston, Texas; Anchorage, Alaska; Savannah, Georgia; and Charleston, South Carolina. In addition to her two daughters, Tamara Taylor of Era, Texas, and Alison Clement of Corvallis, Oregon, Mari is survived by sons-in-law, Mike Taylor and Chuck Willer; grandchildren, Seth and Devin Taylor, Charlotte (Willer) Trask, William Sasha Clement; and great-grandchildren, Collin, Caden and Gavin Taylor, Zarian Boone, Ryn and Emerson Taylor, and Harrison and Harper Trask.

Mari Clement was an accomplished seamstress and an adventurous cook, incorporating the regional food of wherever her family was living. She wasn’t afraid to try new things. She crocheted, painted, worked in ceramics, and restored and upholstered furniture.

In 1971, the Clements retired to Beardstown and then to Little Turtle Lake, near Rushville, Illinois. They were active in Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill as a member and Mari as a member of Al-Anon. After her husband’s death in 1979, Mari volunteered at genealogy centers in Jacksonville and Rushville. She also volunteered at the Help Center and for Meals on Wheels in Rushville and was a member of the both St. Alexius Catholic Church in Beardstown and St. Rose in Rushville.

Mari loved adventure. A group tour to Switzerland began her avid interest in international travel. Soon after, she visited the homeland of her ancestors in Ireland. She spent much of the later decades of her life traveling with her companion and friend, Armand Hofer of Columbia, Missouri. Her interest in people from different backgrounds and cultures was one of her most endearing qualities. She liked anything unusual or surprising.  She traveled to Switzerland, Chile, and Turkey. Overcoming a lifelong fear of heights, in her 80s, she went parasailing and zip-lining, and then, later, crossed a narrow suspension footbridge in Thailand. She travelled extensively in Italy. She loved its fountains and was fascinated by Pompeii.  She rode an elephant in Africa, where she spent a week on Safari and being in the bush; travelled by boat to a camel fair in India, and was up for anything. “Just because you’re old doesn’t mean you can’t have fun.”

She loved being with people and made friends wherever she went, but Mari also appreciated the solitude of her house on Little Turtle Lake, where she was able to live independently until the final six months of her life. She died peacefully in her sleep in the home of her daughter, Tamara. We will miss her.

A Mass will be said for Mari Clement at her church, St. Rose of Lima in Rushville, Illinois at 5:00 on Saturday, February 20. A memorial service will be held this summer when Mari’s cremated remains are inurned next to her husband in the Concord Cemetery, Concord, Illinois. Arrangements are under the care of Geo. J. Carroll & Son Funeral Home, Gainesville, TX.