Mattie Lee McClure

Mattie Lee Hill McClure began her journey of life on June 4, 1948, in Sikeston, Missouri as the beloved daughter of Willie B. Hill and Annie Bess Brown Hill. Being raised in a family of 13 siblings, she helped her mother raise, feed, babysit, and chastise her siblings. Mattie accepted Christ as her personal Lord and Savior at an early age and was a graduate of Peake High School. Mattie met the fun-loving and outgoing Leo McClure from Curtis, Arkansas; a friendship and courtship began. Leo later married Mattie on July 10, 1965, and the Lord added to their union seven children. The family settled in Lansing, Michigan.

The McClure’s eventually made their permanent home in Curtis, Arkansas. They united with Mt. Friendship Baptist Church where she served as church clerk, a member of the finance committee, the youth committee and she was in charge of the kitchen committee. She and Leo both loved fishing and would spend countless hours fishing. She enjoyed dancing, cooking, listening to the blues, and leisure time at the casino.

Mattie was no doubt the backbone of her family. She loved tenderly and always gave words of wisdom. She loved Mt. Friendship Baptist Church and she loved Curtis, Arkansas – God’s country.

She passed quietly on Wednesday, August 30, 2023. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Leo McClure (September 19, 2009); two daughters, Lennetta McClure and Jacqueline Cleon "Jackie" McClure-Goshen; a grandson, Cornelius Means, and a daughter-in-law, Tanya McClure.

Those left to cherish her legacy of love and laughter are her daughter, Pamela Means of Curtis, AR, Mattie Sue (Jimmy) Matlock of Hot Springs, AR, and Jannie C. McClure of Phoenix, AL; three sons, Leotis (Pamela) McClure of Curtis, AR, Kenneth F. McClure (Sydney Jester) of Curtis, AR, and Emmanuel McClure of Fayetteville, AR; and a son-in-law, Claudis Goshen of Curtis, AR. She also leaves her sisters, Virginia Jefferson, Brenda (Rickey) Goven, Tammy Zambrana, and Melissa (Dale) Box; five brothers, Glenn (Gloria) Hill, Tommy Hill, Gary (Janice) Hill, Rodney (Carolyn) Hill, and Kenny Walker; brothers and sisters-in-law, twenty-one grandchildren, twelve great-grandchildren and a caravan of nieces, nephews, cousins, other relatives, numerous friends, her special friends; Sandra Brim, Debra Purifoy and Mattie Bailey and the Mt. Friendship Baptist Church family.

Visitation will be Friday, September 8, 2023, from 2:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. at the funeral home. A Celebration of her life will be held at 12 noon, on Saturday, September 9, 2023, at Mt. Friendship Baptist Church with Rev. Curtis Coleman, eulogist. The committal service and final resting place will be in Curtis Cemetery. Bearers of the casket will be Quintin Culclager, Louis West, Juan Horton, Josh Newburn, Roderick Hill, and David Brim, Jr. Honorable to mention are Dewight Jones, Sedrick Moody, Jacorey Dotson, Darius Holt, and Dewayne Graves.