Marie Mccollough

Linna Marie (Grant) McCollough, 89, of Richardson peacefully passed away Thursday, February 12, 2015, in Richardson Methodist Hospital. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, February 17, 2015, at Marshall and Marshall Funeral Directors Chapel in Hillsboro with Rev. Leah Hidde-Gregory of First United Methodist Church in Hillsboro officiating. Burial will follow at Hillcrest Garden of Memory near Hillsboro. Visitation will be from 9:00-11:00 a.m., prior to service time, Tuesday at the funeral home. Her family is grateful for her constant presence in their lives that even death itself cannot take away. We wish to celebrate God’s grace in her long and happy life. Friends and family are invited to services and lunch beginning around 1 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church of Hillsboro.

Born July 13, 1925, in Hill County, Marie was the daughter of Jack and Hazel (Hooker) Grant. Marie grew up in the rural community of Vaughan and graduated from Abbot High School in 1942. She worked at Citizens National Bank in Hillsboro from 1943-1947.

She was a tall, brunette beauty who caught the eye of James (Jim) Martin McCollough one day at the bank after the war ended. She married the love of her life on June 14, 1947, in the First United Methodist Church of Hillsboro. She worked in the banking and mortgage fields in Georgetown, Austin and San Antonio until she had children.

After they married, she moved with her husband to Georgetown where Jim studied art at Southwestern University. Married to an artist, Marie was his muse and model. She followed her husband through his educational pursuits at Southwestern College, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Oklahoma in Norman and Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.

In the mid 50s, they moved back to Texas and opened an art supply company in San Antonio, where they raised their family. Marie was a connoisseur wife and homemaker. She could design and sew clothes that looked like they belonged on the cover of Vogue, bake downhome and upscale meals with delightful presentation and decorate and maintain a pristine home.

Marie was actively involved in her children’s lives and held leadership positions in the PTA, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, church and neighborhood. In 1974, they sold the business and moved their family back to Hillsboro where they lived until 1981.

Marie and Jim eventually settled in the Dallas area, so they could be closer to their grown children whom they adored. Marie retired from the psychology department of Southern Methodist University, Dallas, in 1990.

Everyone who encountered her always remarked how sweet and happy she was. Marie made life long friends. In her later years, her grandchildren were the light of her life, and she played an instrumental role in their upbringing. Her granddaughter wrote: I'm the one who laughs at funerals. Getting caught in the giggle loop, till it becomes unbearable. My only saving grace, are the words I can create to honor your beautiful, rich life. You were so lovely and so kind and so well spoken and such a powerful calming figurehead, in the way I evolved as a tiny human. The only grace and genteel that I can muster comes from you. I shall focus then, on these things in my coming years. I will emulate you, and therefore you shall live on, in me. I adore you sweet Linna Marie McCollough. I am forever yours and you shall be forever mine. My loving Nana, may peace take hold of you soon. As the shell you wore hastens back to the ocean, I will never forget you. Never, ever.

She is preceded in death by both parents, her beloved husband and brother in law, Jack Neal. She is survived by her sister Winona “Nonie” Neal of Hillsboro; her brother and wife Gordon and Mary Grant of Burleson. Her son and his wife, Randy and Alice McCollough, of Garland; her daughter Lisa McCollough of Fort Worth; her grandson Niel McCollough of Garland; and her granddaughter Mallory Carrick of Austin, Texas. She also leaves behind nieces and nephews she loved like her own, Steve and Patsy Neal of Rosenberg, Texas; Nancy and Sammy Steele of Hillsboro; Jackie and Carole Neal of Hillsboro; Bob and Claudia Neal of Austin; Gary and Michelle Grant and Kelly and Matt Martin of Burleson, Texas, and many great and great-great nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society, 1700 Lake Success Drive, Waco, TX 76710 or the American Heart Association, P. O. Box 841125, Dallas, TX 75284-1125.

Visitation

Tuesday February 17, 2015 , 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM at Marshall & Marshall Funeral Directors in Hillsboro

Funeral Service

Tuesday February 17, 2015 , 11:00 AM at Marshall & Marshall Funeral Directors in Hillsboro

Burial

Tuesday February 17, 2015 at Hillcrest Garden of Memory

-- View a Video -- Memorial Tribute

1-888-579-7953 Code: 28181


Facts Born: July 13, 1925
Place of Birth:
Death: February 12, 2015


Memorial Donations Memorial donations can be made to:
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society, 1700 Lake Success Drive, Waco, TX 76710 or the American Heart Association, P. O. Box 841125, Dallas, TX 75284-1125