Delora Grace McLendon

Delora Grace McLendon (nee Munden)

Born November 21^st 1927 during an evacuation of lower Dayton, Washington during a Touchet River flood, the daughter of Ivan and Austie Munden, Del passed away peacefully at her Seattle home Sunday morning July 21^st 2013 where she lived with her husband Bob of 64 years.

The youngest of four children, “Honey” spent her childhood in the Dayton apple orchards, sorted peas and built apple boxes at the Green Giant Cannery, looked for golf balls at the fairgrounds and picked huckleberries in the Blue Mountains. 

Soon after graduating from Pietrzycki High School, she moved to Seattle to be a caregiver for a family friend and to attend Griffin-Murphy Business College.  After graduation she worked for seven years at the Safeway Corporate Office in Seattle.

Del and Bob met on a blind date in late 1948 and married six months later when Bob was attending the University of Washington.  After Bob’s graduation, Bob and Del moved to the Bryn Mawr neighborhood of south Seattle to raise their family.  Always wanting to help others, Del spent over 40 years working for the family business, McLendon Hardware, at the Renton and Sumner locations.

Del’s grandchildren Brandon, Ben, Zane and Lexie and great-grandchildren Ashlyn and Aiva, were her pride and joy.  They all loved “nanny” so much.

Catching the horse races at Emerald Downs, latch hook, word puzzles, indoor gardening and stocking the shelves at any McLendon Hardware she was visiting at the time were some of Del’s favorite pastimes.

Del was preceded in death by her father Ivan when she was three years old, her mother Austie, and her two sisters Letha Goodwater and Wanda West.  She is survived by her husband Robert W. McLendon, daughters Gail (Carl Cloud), Linda (Craig Holmes), son Brian (Bonnie), grandchildren and great-grand daughters, brother Charles Munden of Walla Walla and many nephews, nieces and in-laws.

We would like to make special thanks to Dr. Sydney Cousin, Jr. at Valley Medical Center, Providence Hospice and the CareForce caregivers for everything that they did for Del to make her comfortable during her last days.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in her memory to a charity of your choice or one of Del’s favorites:  Renton Community Foundation (www.rentonfoundation.org), Calvary Chapel South (317 4^th Ave S, Kent, WA  98032), Seattle Humane Society (www.seattlehumane.org).

A celebration of her life will be held at McLendon Hardware, 440 Rainier Ave. S., Renton, WA  98057 on August 21, 2013 from 11:00am to 2:00pm.  Everyone who has known Del is welcome to attend.