Dear Westside Gazette Newspaper, family and friends, thank you for your honor and support and for your dedication and commitment. I want to thank Bobby Henry, Sr. for giving me this opportunity to present an icon and a pillar of the community here in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Ms. Mary Alice McClendon. I am honored to share what a joy Mary Alice was to the community. Mary has always shared her wisdom, straightforwardness and outspoken words with family members and those who love being in her presence.
Mary Alice worked for Broward County School Board transporting our most precious cargo: our children. In her early years she had contracts to clean banks where she would load her children and nephews and would invite their friends to work with her while teaching discipline, work ethic and responsibility.
Even in her retirement years she found herself giving her all, working as a school crossing guard in the Walker Elementary area of NW. 2nd St. and NW. 9th Ave.
Mary was loved by many and always had her doors open. When family members had nowhere to turn or rest their head, her doors would always be open with her arms wide open, even for those who were not family but needed help.
Mary had four lovely children: Jimmy Lee Franklin, Nikita Shaw Rolle, Pete Lorenzo Taylor, and Tanjela Warner Taylor and a host of grands and great grandchildren along with many family members.
Mary Alice was an usher and choir member at New Hope Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale Florida where she eagerly embraced her commitment as a community mom. She had zero tolerance for nonsense and was always outspoken about what she felt was right. She defended and supported others when they couldn’t support themselves.
Mary Alice left a blueprint that resembled the story written about Black Wall Street in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Black families worked hard to build a community in 1921 giving support to what Black history truly represented.
I never heard Mary Alice complain about anything. If God blessed her with the rising sunshine, she would surely take full advantage of that day.
Mary Alice will be missed by her family and friends and our community. She will be remembered for her elegance because she knew who she was, and she knew that she had done the work that God blessed her to do here on earth.
So, if by chance, this letter misses its destination, please forward it to Heaven because it is meant for an angel. Her job was done here, she did it well and she did it with honor. Thank you, Auntie. I love you unconditionally.
Yours truly,
Darryl Solomon Hope #KeepHopeAlive
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