Margaret Lou Richards

Margaret Lou Wendeborn Richards

September 28, 1929 – July 9, 2021

Funeral Services will be held on Tuesday, July 13, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. at the Tankersley Funeral Home Chapel (807 Columbia) Stamford, TX with Rev. Richard Strait officiating. Burial will follow in the Bethel Lutheran Church Cemetery in the Ericksdahl Community under the direction of Tankersley Funeral Home.

Margaret was born to Walter G. and Minnie Hinzie Wendeborn on the family farm five miles south of Sagerton, Texas.  She attended Sagerton Elementary School where she was a member of the rhythm band. As a teenager, she sang in the choir and offered solos at St. Paul Lutheran Church.  She graduated from Sagerton High School in 1947 and went on to attend McMurry University in Abilene.  Margaret was a member of Chanters, Alpha Chi, and Sigma Tau Delta. Majoring in English, she earned her Bachelor of Arts in 1951.

On March 24, 1951 during Spring Break, Margaret married Clements O. Richards at Bethel Lutheran Church in Ericksdahl.  Clements returned to Camp Lejeune, NC where he was serving as a Marine, and Margaret followed him there after her college graduation in May. Upon discharge in 1952 from the service, Clements and Margaret and their baby daughter, Pamela Zoe, returned to the Stamford area where Clements farmed and Margaret began her teaching career in Sagerton. Two more daughters, Sharon Elaine and Deanna Lyn, joined the family.  Margaret earned her Masters of English from Hardin Simmons University in 1971 and taught in several schools in Texas including Lueders, Anson, Stamford, Lancaster, and LaGrange.

In 1975, Margaret and Clements attended the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago. IL.  Upon graduation in 1979, the couple returned to Texas where Clements became pastor of Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Lancaster, TX.  Over the years of Clements’s pastoral service, Margaret was involved in the life of the churches they served by teaching Sunday School, training Christian education teachers, serving on the Synod Christian Education Committees, assisting in confirmation classes as well as continuing to teach in public schools.

Margaret was a nurturing mother to her daughters and participated whole heartedly in their school activities.  She took great pride in sewing the girls’ dresses, fixing their hair, and taking them to piano lessons.  She always had time to sit down and color with them, cut out paper dolls, or sew Barbie clothes. Over her years of sewing for the girls, she collected material scraps from the garments she made. These scraps have been lovingly preserved as quilts made by each daughter. She was a very loving role model throughout her life.

Margaret traveled to Europe in 1971 where she was able to enjoy much of the world she had shared with her students through literature.  She and Clements also traveled throughout the United States on family vacations and then later with friends.  The couple loved learning, and they continued studying and reading together.  Even when Clements’s eyesight failed, they participated in video learning about the world, the universe, and spirituality.  Margaret made photography an enjoyable hobby.  She and Clements moved to “Tranquil Acres” near Stamford in 2011 where she took pictures of the wildflower garden she and Clements planted on their 50 ^th wedding anniversary.

Margaret is preceded in death by Clements, her husband of 64 years and infant son, Brent Anthony. She is also predeceased by her parents and brother, James Wendeborn.  She is survived by three daughters: Pamela Weaks and husband, Roy; Sharon Kleypas and husband Gary; Deanna Cagle and husband, Gus. Also left to cherish her memory are grandchildren Sean Weaks and wife Valerie; Meagan Weaks and husband, Elbert Howard; Jeff Kleypas and wife Bonnie; Marci Johnson; Matt Johnson and wife Amanda. Margaret was lovingly known as Great-Mimi by her greatgrandchildren William Weaks, Wesley and Alison Weaks, Kaitlyn and Jaclyn Kleypas, Breanna Johnson, and Carlie, Landon, and Brenton Johnson.  Also left to remember her are brother Fred Wendeborn, Denver, CO and sister Marva Wood of Little Egg Harbor, NJ and several nephews and nieces.