Wanetah M. Dendy

Wanetah M. Dendy, our beautiful, kind and gracious mother, grandmother and friend, was welcomed into Heaven on Tuesday, June 26, 2012. She was residing in Lufkin, Texas. Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m., Saturday, June 30, 2012 at Emmanuel Baptist Church, 516 E. Nelson Road, Moses Lake. Viewing will be held from 1 to 7 p.m., Friday, June 29th at Kayser’s Chapel. Interment will be at Pioneer Memorial Gardens. Wanetah was born on December 13, 1921 in Gomez, Texas to Charles and Annie (Keeling) McLeroy. She was the youngest of ten children and was called “Babe” by her siblings. She grew up in West Texas during the depression, and The Dust Bowl period. She was the youngest child of 10. Her father was a cotton farmer and rancher who was a successful cattle breeder for the area. As a small blonde child, she was easily lost in the cotton patches and learned to carry a hoe and kill the snakes. Sacrifices were made so that all 10 McLeroy children could earn college degrees during these difficult times. Wanetah learned hard work and perseverance during her childhood. She met Louie B. Dendy at Wayland Baptist College in Plainview, Texas, when she was a freshman in college and Louie was a senior in the High School Academy. They were married in Columbia, South Carolina on June 4, 1944 while Louie was on leave from WWII. Wanetah graduated from Howard Payne University in 1944 with a major in English and taught high school English. She and Louie both attended Gold Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Mill Valley, California. Their first pastorate after seminary was in Tri-Cities. They started Richland Heights Baptist Church in Richland, Washington as a mission church and grew it to be a self-sustaining church. In 1957, they moved to Moses Lake to restart and build the First Southern Baptist Church (now known as Emmanuel Baptist Church) on Nelson Road. She was a member for 55 years. In 2008 she moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin with her daughter and family then in 2009 to Lufkin, Texas with her son. Wanetah taught school for 25 years in the Moses Lake area. She began as a substitute teacher in 1962 and then full time at Warden Elementary School in 1965. She taught third through fifth grades from 1965 to 1987, and taught at Warden Elementary, Larson Elementary, Knolls Vista Elementary and Peninsula Elementary Schools. A year after retiring, Wanetah taught English in China for 4 years; two years at a middle school and two years at a Women’s University. She was a world traveler, and after retirement, she went to China, Singapore, Taiwan, Russia, all of Europe, The Holy Lands, Antarctica, Australia, Finland, New Zealand, Iceland, all the British Isles, Canada, Mexico, the Hawaiian Islands and more. Wanetah visited every continent except Africa. When Wanetah was 72 she hiked to the base of Mt. Everest in Nepal. She has walked the Great Wall of China, visited the Xian Terracota soldiers in Xian, China, climbed the pyramids in Egypt and Mexico, fed the penguins in Antarctica, visited the Eiffel Tower, and saw the incredible Australian Barrier Reef, just to name a few. Wanetah and Louie cared for not only their own children, but also 27 other foreign students and foster children who lived in their home in Moses Lake. She treated them as her own children and formed lasting relationships with Amir Karimzadeh, Kamran Hedva, and Lynda Moore Copple. Wanetah was admitted to the National Society of Daughter’s of American Revolution in 1988 and served two terms as Chapter Chaplain at Karneesta Chapter. She also started Goodwill Industries in Moses Lake in 1959. She is survived by her children, Donnah Ann Barfield, Helena, GA, Charles R. Dendy, Lufkin, TX, John McLeroy Dendy, Irving, TX, and Rebekah Dendy Ghormley, Green Bay, WI; 7 grandchildren, Kathryn, David, David, Denise, Preston, Olivia, and Elizabeth; 2 great grandchildren Fay and David. Besides her parents, Wanetah was preceded in death by her husband, Louie B. Dendy, sisters, Era “Sister” Sears, Nell McLeroy, Dena Marie “Dolly” McLeroy, Vivian “Tug” Stone, Rena “Cook” Boseman and Iva Lee “Shug” Patton, brothers, George “Podge” McLeroy, Robert “Robby” McLeroy and Calvin “Buddy” McLeroy. Memorial contributions may be made to Emmanuel Baptist Church, 516 E. Nelson Road, Moses Lake, WA 98837

Wanetah M. Dendy

December 13, 1921 - June 26, 2012