Mary Jane McLendon, PhD

Deep sympathy to Betty. I knew and liked MJ for many years, freom the time she became a graduate student at KU. Then I was her mentor when she became a graduate teaching assistant, and my visits to her classes confirmed my opinion of her as a fine teacher who cared deeply about her subject and her students. I know that many of us in Lawrence miss her.

I remember MJ and her Mom challenging each other about grammatical slips and the use of new words. MJ and Betty helped educate seminarians in a very helpful way. It was a privilege to have served as her pastor. Our prayers are with Betty, Ben and all who knew MJ.

My heart goes out to Betty and Ben at this very sad time. My long friendship with MJ meant a lot to me. She was funny, charming, and a truly great person. She will be missed by all who had the pleasure of knowing her.

My complete and heartfelt sympathies go out to Betty, their family and friends. I can only imagine how devastating the loss of MJ can be to all of you…. I, myself, am at a loss, physically and emotionally. MJ was my first best friend so many years ago. These last few days I’ve thought of so many good and rough times we’d gone through for so many years:
As innocent children drinking Kool-Ade and playing with my Barbies and her G.I. Joes;
Making up games with whatever we had to work with at the time. “Pillow Drums” were a blast!;
The realization of what divorce was, and watching how hard it was for Mary Jane when her parents split up and trying to help her be happy again;
Endless birthday parties and potlucks;
Our cooking and baking projects that sometimes turned out, and sometimes didn’t. But we’d eat them no matter what, laughing as we snarfed it all down til it was gone;
There were dinners! Lots of dinners! If we didn’t go out to eat when she would come back to visit Waterloo, we’d decide to get together after supper–her supper. She knew that we ate later at our house and it was never a problem for her to have a second meal with us. She loved whatever we had, especially Greek food. And my parents loved feeding her because she appreciated it so much!;
We were there for each other when our parents passed, whether we were together physically, or through phone calls;
We had a stupid running joke that lasted for over 50 years when we would greet each other:
“What’s new?”
“New York, New Hampshire, New Mexico….” And it would go on and on;
We went to movies, listened to music, talked politics and religion. We’d cover it all.

Here is something I wrote on MJ’s Facebook page after I heard of her passing. It helps to sum up my feelings:
‘MJ was my very first best friend around age 5. (Back when she was still called Mary Jane.) Whenever we had the opportunity to get together as adults, time would pass (way too quickly) reminiscing and laughing. I’m sad that time and distance made our visits less frequent. But, when we did get together, it was as if no time passed at all. You will be missed, my friend. But, when my time comes, I bet you’ll be there to greet me, show me the sites, and take me out for the best meal in heaven. I’ll see you then!

As the Greeks say, “May her memory be eternal.”‘

May God bless her and rest her soul “where there is not pain, nor any sorrow, nor any sighing, but Life everlasting.”

Miss you and love you, dear old friend.