Carolyn (McClenny) Cotton

Carolyn Adell McClenny Cotton, 90, of Clifton passed away on Tuesday, July 26, 2022. A funeral service will be held at 2:00 P.M. Thursday, August 4, 2022, at Cranfills Gap Methodist Church. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service at the church. Burial will be held at 2:00 P.M. Friday, August 5, 2022, at Clyde Cemetery, in Clyde, TX.

Carolyn was born on July 16, 1932, in Granbury, TX to Maurice Elmo McClenny and Lois Elizabeth Hiner, and stepmother Elizabeth “Betty” Johanna Hanson.  Lois died when Carolyn was 3, and Maurice married Betty when Carolyn was 6.  

She graduated from Ballinger High School and North Texas State College (now University of North Texas). 

She married Edwin Fanell Cotton on June 30, 1956, in Ballinger, Texas.  After 43 years of marriage Ed passed away in 1999.

She started her career as a public-school music teacher and band director and later moved into special education.  She was the wife of a small-town high school coach and attended and cheered at every football and basketball game on the schedule.  She and Ed moved around frequently for educational and job opportunities, but settled down and raised their family in Abilene, Texas before moving to the Cranfills Gap/Meridian/Clifton area in 1981.

She was extremely proud of her multi-generational Texas roots and given the slightest opportunity would educate any passing stranger on Texas history.

She was the great-great-great granddaughter of David Crockett, defender of the Alamo, and loved anything and everything related to her renowned ancestor.  After she retired from her long teaching career, her favorite time of the year was the first week of March, when she would make the pilgrimage to San Antonio for Battle of the Alamo and Texas Independence Day commemorative ceremonies, reuniting with friends and family, and hanging out in front of the Alamo talking to tourists from around the world.   She was known far and wide as Mama Crockett.

She was a member, and often served in leadership positions, of the Direct Descendants of David Crockett, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Alamo Society, the Daughters of the Confederacy, and United Methodist Women.  She was inducted into the Alamo Society Hall of Fame in 2021.  She relished learning more about her genealogy and finding new kinfolk, frequently through the Crockett, Hiner and Menefee family reunions and organizations. 

She was a lifelong member and deeply involved with the Methodist church, conference, and charities.  Her church home for the last 40+ years was Cranfills Gap First United Methodist.  She had a beautiful singing voice and enjoyed performing with a choir, a band, a crowd, or on her own, and was often the choir or musical director. 

She also found time to travel after retirement and was able to go on several memorable tours of Europe and the Holy Land, as well as many special trips around the US, always taking way too much heavy luggage.

She lived life as she wanted.  During her last month, she successfully fulfilled her final 3 wishes - attending the re-dedication ceremony of the Crockett Hotel in San Antonio, reaching her 90th birthday, and traveling to the Crockett family reunion, held this year in eastern Tennessee near David Crockett’s birthplace.  Her family would like to thank the many friends who celebrated with her and made it possible to achieve these last milestones.

She is survived by two children, and two children-in-law that she loved and claimed as her own – Joe Cotton and wife Susan of Dallas Center, Iowa.  Cari Aiken and husband Cory of Round Rock, Texas.

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