Wilma Pauline McCleve

It is with heavy heart that I inform you that Wilma Pauline McCleve passed away at 10:30 AM on August 24, 2025. She is better known as Polly and has been loved by most who have known her. The sequence of events leading to this event are as follows.

As you may know, on July 1 she underwent surgery on her spine at about shoulder level. The goal was to remove broken bones in the spine since she was vulnerable to serious damage if she fell. The 6 hour surgery was considered completely satisfactory and after a one week recovery she underwent 2 weeks of rehab and was considered "on schedule". She came home to rest for one week before beginning daily rehab at a nearby facility. Unfortunately she did not get to the rest due to various issues but mostly due to a severe case of infection and she went to the hospital for curing of the infection. This time however she was starting to build some strength and was starting to eat better. I had been feeding her much of the time because her hand and arm strength was not real good. On Sunday morning I was feeding her several foods but mostly pancakes and peaches and I was thinking this was the best I had seen her eat for some time. And then for some reason she coughed and the food in her mouth went down the wrong opening and she was choking. Within seconds there were many nurses and doctors there trying to help Polly but they concluded they had to open her up body to give her a possible chance, even though there was no way to know the outcome. Polly had signed a non-resuscitation clause in her contract and I know she did not to violate that. As a consequence she passed away. To go from a "this looks better" to a "nightmare" eats at your stomach.

Polly and I developed the procedures we wanted to follow when we passed away and I intend to follow our agreements. These include: Cremation. Remains will be Inurned at Dallas Fort Woth National Cemetery. There will be no funeral or graveside services. We will have a blessing of the grave at a later date. Our number one intention was to avoid the long range gathering of family and friends from all over the country.