Feb. 27, 1941 – June 25, 2016

HARKER HEIGHTS, Texas — Services with a Requiem Mass for Elizabeth Ellen “Bee” Clabaugh, 75, of Killeen, Texas, who died Saturday, June 25, 2016, in Temple, Texas, at Baylor Scott & White Continuing Care Hospital, will be at 9 a.m. Thursday at St. Paul Chong Hasang Catholic Church in Harker Heights.  

Burial will follow at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery under the direction of Crawford-Bowers Funeral Home in Killeen.

Visitation will be from 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesday with a rosary at 7 p.m.

Mrs. Clabaugh was born Feb. 27, 1941, in Rochester, N.Y., the daughter of William John Donnelly and Elizabeth Martha Paine Donnelly.

She graduated from Nazareth Academy in Rochester and attended Southwestern College and American Technological University.

Bee retired from the U.S. Department of Army Civil Service as chief of the beneficiary services branch, managed care division, Darnall Army Hospital in 2005. She received a number of awards and accolades, most notably the Health Benefits Advisor of the Year Award in 2001, selected from HBAs serving all branches of the armed forces nationwide. After retiring, Bee was a member of the Ladies of Charity and volunteered for Hope Pregnancy Center. For the past number of years she made thousands of rosaries for missionaries to distribute.

Bee loved to travel with her husband and made a number of trips to Europe, including a trip to Ballymoney, Ireland, where her father was born. When she wasn’t traveling abroad, she traveled the country visiting family and friends, and especially her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She loved her children fiercely and wanted nothing more in the world than for them to be happy.

Although she battled COPD and debilitating degenerative disc disease for a number of years, she stayed strong by walking in the mall five times a week. She was always brave in the face of adversity — especially over the past two months. She was persistent in everything she did, always responding with a smile and was generous with her time and talents and most importantly her love and affection.

Mrs. Clabaugh was preceded in death by her parents; two sisters, Maureen Monica Neu and Sheila Anne Sisson; and the father of her children, Gregory Philip Callahan.

Survivors include her loving and devoted husband of 38 years, Jerry J. Clabaugh; three children, Charlene Ann Rushing and husband, Kenny, of Vidalia, Philip William Callahan and wife, Tina, of Vista, Calif., and Kim Marie Callahan of Austin, Texas and her fiancé, Tim Decker, of Cameron, Texas; three grandchildren, Ryan Paul Rushing and wife, Rachel, of Dallas, Elizabeth Ariel Evans and husband, Michael, of Bastrop, La., and Courtney Faith Rushing and fiancé, Howard Smith, of Vidalia; and three great-grandchildren, Leon Jason Paul Evans, Delilah AnnMarie Evans and Quinn AvaElizabeth Evans of Bastrop.

In lieu of flowers, Bee requested that memorial contributions be made to St. Paul Chong Hasang Catholic Church Building Fund, Harker Heights, TX 76548.

Online condolences may be sent to crawfordbowersfuneralhome.com.