Malinda Sue (Stanford) Van Buskirk

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Malinda Sue Stanford Van Buskirk. She lived a full and rich life as a beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, co-worker, mentor, and friend to all whose lives she touched. She passed away on March 18, 2022, at the age of eighty-five. There will be a visitation on Friday, March 25 from 10:00 am until 12:00 pm at Marshall & Marshall Funeral Home at 2495 Corsicana Hwy, Hillsboro, Texas, followed by a graveside burial at Itasca Cemetery on South Wall Street at approximately 1:30 pm.

Sue was born in Hillsboro, Texas on December 28, 1936, to Loyd Elzie and Myrtle Mae Webb Stanford. Sue graduated from Hillsboro High School in 1954, and married her high school sweetheart, Edwin Wayne Chandler, that November. She gave birth to her only child, Rhonda Alice on April 5, 1958, while living in Tacoma, Washington. She returned to Hillsboro in 1958 when Rhonda was a baby. In 1968, Sue and her family relocated to Grand Prairie, where she began her career in the real estate industry. She became an escrow officer and office supervisor in the title business. She also co-founded a family-owned vending machine company, Phil-Man Services, in 1988 with Rhonda and her husband, Bill. She retired in 1990. She later lived in Whitney, Texas for 8 years. After rapidly developing dementia, she was moved to a memory care facility in Burleson in 2017.

Sue brought a positive perspective and contagious joy to everyone that she met, and her biggest pleasure in life was being a mother and grandmother. She supported and attended countless events, sewed many a torn garment, and passed her values and people skills down through the generations. You could always find a huge smile on her face and her favorite, Mickey Mouse, on her shirt. Sue truly made the most of her years: she never met a stranger and always made a point to be kind to anyone and everyone, no matter how brief the interaction.

She enjoyed playing the piano and playing dominoes. She was also a member of the Hillsboro Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star. In her retirement, she enjoyed travelling the country in her RV, going on family cruises and Disney World trips, and riding on the lake with family and friends in “Chatty,” her personal watercraft. She loved bingo, computer games, and spoiling her dogs.

Sue is preceded in death by her parents; husband Brian Van Buskirk; former husband Ed Swann; ex-husband Wayne Chandler; many aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Sue is survived by her loving daughter Rhonda Clay and husband Bill of Burleson; grandson Phillip Clay and wife Lisa of Lakewood Ranch, Florida; granddaughter Amanda Branum and husband Derrick of Burleson; and her precious great-grandchildren Logan and Austyn Branum of Burleson; as well as countless cousins and many friends.

Memorial gifts can be made to the Dementia Society of America.