1926 ~ 2024
Pauline (Willett) McClure was born on her grandmother’s kitchen table on July 10, 1926, on a small farm in Midland, Michigan. She was born to Harold and Marguerite (McDonough) Willett.
She lived close to a century, navigating a changing world, from picking her groceries out of the garden and henhouse, to ordering her groceries online. She always moved forward.
She married James McClure in February of 1946, less than a year after his liberation from a German POW camp. They settled in Flint and then moved the growing family to Haslett in the 1950’s so that they could attend MSU.
Pauline’s early struggles, through the Depression and World War II imbued her with an unusual resolve and work ethic. She was the first in her family to finish a college degree and then a Master’s degree as an adult woman with six kids.
Pauline was a librarian and a teacher. She worked in libraries in Haslett, Lansing, and Northport, Michigan. Even after retirement she volunteered in the Northport Public Library. On most Thursday afternoons, after a donut at Barb’s Bakery, she would walk to the library to help out, until she “retired” at the age of 91.
She was known for her political activism as a member of the Democratic Party, holding offices as Chairwoman of the Ingham County Democratic Party, convention delegate, and she helped to grow the party on the Leelanau Peninsula. Pauline was a charter member of the Grand Traverse Lighthouse Museum, and ShareCare, a local healthcare group that banded together to help each other as they aged. Pauline was also a member of the Northport Lions Club, serving as their first female president.
When Jim, Pauline’s husband, died, she reinvented herself and became a woman that traveled the world. She watched her beloved birds everywhere; from her backyard, to the jungles of Costa Rica, to the shores of the Galapagos Islands, to a hookah bar in Istanbul.
She will be greeted by those who passed before her; her husband James McClure, her siblings Jerry Willett and Margie Vaughn, her son James McClure Jr. and daughter Cathy Alverson, grandsons Joseph Alverson and Patrick Osmar, and almost 100 years of friends, colleagues, acquaintances and enemies (she didn’t really have enemies, but if she did, she outlived them).
Left to miss her are her children Christopher (Barbara) McClure of Pinckney, Mary (Steve) Osmar of DeWitt, Martha (Tom) Shaver of Northport, and Elizabeth (Gary) Reason of Lansing. She has fifteen surviving grandchildren and oodles of great-grandchildren who will remember her forever as “Coolma”.
Congratulations Pauline, “Pearl”, “Podunk”, “Coolma”, Mom…a life well lived. We are so proud to have had you in our lives.
There will be a private graveside service with interment at the Leelanau Township Cemetery, Northport, MI.
In lieu of flowers memorial contributions can be made in Pauline’s name to the Leelanau Conservancy, PO Box 1007, Leland, MI 49654; ShareCare of Leelanau, PO Box 157, Suttons Bay, MI, 49682.
Please share condolences with the family at ww.martinson.info Arrangements are with the Martinson Funeral Home and Cremation Services of Leelanau.
