Merle Delaney McLain

Published 12:01 am Wednesday, September 24, 2014

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Oct. 9, 1934 – Sept. 14, 2014

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — A funeral mass for Merle Delaney McLain, 79, of Huntsville, Ala., who died Sunday, Sept. 14, 2014, at Crestwood Hospital, will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Good Shepherd Catholic Church with the Rev. Louis Giardino officiating.

Burial will follow with a graveside service Saturday at St. James Cemetery in Jefferson County under the direction of Laughlin Service Funeral Home in Huntsville, Ala.

Mrs. McLain was born Oct. 9, 1934, in Franklin County, the daughter of Marcus James Delaney and Katherine Gilbert Delaney.

She was a 1953 graduate of Cathedral High School. Her family started a missionary Catholic church in their home in Jefferson County. She grew up with a strong Catholic faith, on which she relied heavily throughout her life.

Mrs. McLain devoted her life to raising her four children. While she had worked as a clerk and a kindergarten teacher, her true calling was being a mom. At the age of 23, she became a widow with two children ages 28 and 15 months. Eleven years later she remarried and had two more children. She valued her faith and family far more than any worldly possession. One would be presented with her faith in Christ any place they would see her signature, as it always included a cross over her name. Nothing made her more proud than sharing the joys of her children with anyone that would listen.

Mrs. McLain was preceded in death by her parents; one brother, LCDR James Leo Delaney; her first husband, Ira Wayne Smith; and her second husband, John Wesley McLain Jr.

Survivors include three sons, Ronald Edwin Smith and wife, Vicki, of Lacey’s Spring, Ala., John Wesley McLain III of Round Rock, Texas and Marcus Delaney McLain and wife, Claudia, of El Paso, Texas; one daughter, Natalie Marie Smith of Huntsville; five grandsons; four granddaughters; two great-grandsons; three great-granddaughters and one on the way; two sisters, Mary Gunning and husband, Louis, and Virginia Delaney; one sister-in-law, Pearl Delaney; and a number of nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Good Shepherd Catholic Church Building Fund.

Online condolences may be sent to laughlinservice.com.