Darlene A. (Horner) McClure, 64

Darlene A. (Horner) McClure was born on Oct. 25, 1951, and passed away peacefully on March 30, 2016, at Swedish Hospital in Seattle, Wash.

Darlene grew up on the family farm in rural North Dakota as the oldest of 11 children. Her early education through the eighth grade was in a one-room school house. She graduated from Napoleon, N.D., High School in 1969 and attended Bismarck Business College that fall.

In 1971 she met and married Michael (Mike). Their daughter, Michelle, was born in Bismarck in 1973. In the fall of 1974, the family moved to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where their son, Chris, was born in 1976.

Darlene began work at GTE in 1977 as a telephone operator. She held various positions within the company and in 1987 her position as Administrative Assistant to the Manager of the Central Office Installation Dept. was moved to Kennewick, Wash., during company reorganization. During a subsequent reorganization in 1994, her position was eliminated.

After a short period of unemployment, she went to work at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in the secretarial pool. She was eventually hired by Bechtel-Hanford and subsequently by the Washington Closure Group. After 18 years at Hanford, she retired from Washington Closure in 2012 as a Safety Engineer.

Darlene’s greatest joy in life was her family. She was a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, sister, daughter and friend to all who knew and loved her. She enjoyed traveling and though there were a lot of miles across Montana to North Dakota, she didn’t mind the ride. She always said that she enjoyed the scenery passing by and all the little “casinos” at every gas stop along the way.

Darlene is preceded in death by her grandparents: John and Olga Horner, and Jacob and Magdalena Piatz; and sister Marilyn Rose.

She is survived by her husband, Michael; daughter Michelle (Mark) Haggart; son Christopher (Angie); grandchildren Hailey McClure, Jacob Haggart, Noelle Haggart and Devin McClure; parents Pete and Rose Horner of North Dakota; sisters Donna (Rocky) Krom and Joyce (Terry) Kuch; brothers Dick (Jane), Jerry (Jane), Tim (Gail), Bob (Gwen), Pete (Beverly), Jack (Becky) and Keith (Heidi); and numerous nieces and nephews on all sides of the family.

There will be a memorial service for Darlene at 2 p.m. Friday, April 15, 2016, at Einan’s Event Center in Richland, Wash. She will also have a funeral Mass followed by inurnment at Napoleon Cemetery at a later date.

Express your thoughts and memories on Darlene’s online guest book at www.einansatsunset.com.