Mary Louise McCool

Mary Louise McCool was born March 15, 1946, to James Orville and Sybil Carolyn (Middleton) McEntire. She passed away peacefully in her home on November 3, 2022. She was preceded in death by her husband Charles L. McCool.
She is survived by her son Roger Keith Williams (daughter Emma) and daughter Rhonda Carmen Story (sons Rusty, Benny, and Jachin, and daughter Taylor). She has seven great grandchildren.
Mary was the youngest of five girls. She was preceded in death by her sister Jean McEntire. She is survived by sisters Carolyn Turner, Betty Turner, and Sue Lefler Gritts. She has numerous nieces and nephews.
After Mary graduated from Clinton High School in 1964, she married Roger Williams and started a family. She worked different jobs and was a housewife until she decided to go to college and get her teaching degree. She graduated from the University of Central Arkansas in three years with a BSE in Early Childhood Education at the age of 38. She later received her master's degree and even continued her education beyond that. Mary began her teaching career at Clinton Elementary where she taught kindergarten for eight years. She was the only teacher to have a yellow claw-foot bathtub filled with pillows in her classroom for the children to read books in as a reward for their good behavior. She transferred to Jacksonville Elementary where she taught for another eight years before retiring.
Mary enjoyed cooking, sewing, and a variety of crafts over the years including flower arranging, ceramics, painting, and wood working. She liked plants, flowers, and animals. Her cat Butterscotch, whose whereabouts are currently unknown, liked to lay at her feet while she slept. She was known to go to the casino occasionally and play the nickel slots. She decided to buy her own slot machine so she could play whenever she wanted without having to leave home. Mary spent much of her later years on her back porch at her son's ranch where she lived. Watching the cattle graze and the butterflies meander, she would anxiously await her granddaughter's return from school each afternoon. After picking her up from the school bus at the end of the driveway, she would make Emma something to eat, often a hoagie sandwich and a milkshake. She was known as Meme to her grandchildren and loved them all dearly.
Mary chose to be cremated, and the cremains of her dog Hoss will be buried with her. There will be a graveside service at Hunter Hill Cemetery in Clinton for family and friends at a date to be determined.