Surrounded by her loving family, Melinda Phyllis Evans Wren, of Richwood, Texas, gently passed away on Wednesday, April 26th, 2023. Her remarkable strength enabled her to gracefully endure several chronic health issues for many years, but congestive heart failure alongside a recent Stage IV cancer diagnosis in March proved to be too much. Blessedly, she is finally free of pain now and at peace with Our Father in Heaven.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Charles James Evans and Billie Louise Corbett Evans; both of her siblings: older brother, Thomas (''Tommy'') Allen Evans and older sister, Rebecca (''Becky'') Margaret Evans Norcross. Also preceding her, her father and mother-in-law, Henry Allen Wren and Glenn Frances McMichael Wren; her brother and sister-in-law, Leslie Joe and Sari (''Sally'') Smithee Beck; and her nephew Jimmie (''Jim'') Walter Norcross, Jr.
Melinda is survived by her loving and devoted husband of 57 years, Glenn Allen Wren, of Richwood. Her two children (and other family members) also married, all naturally intending their unions to be forever; but despite being divorced, all remain good friends and co-parents with their former spouses. She is survived by her son, Scott Corbett Wren and his former wife Dr. Jennifer Lee Clark Wren, as well as her sister (whom Glenn and Melinda considered family immediately upon meeting), Dr. Eileen Marie Clark Williams and her husband Nicholas Evan Williams; her daughter, Jennifer Elizabeth Wren and her former husband, the late Raymond Onslow Morris; and her six amazing grandchildren: Sabrina Marie Wren, Adele Louise Wren, Allison Grace Morris, Andrea Bella Morris, Julius Pablo Correa, and Lily Veronique Tankoua.
Melinda was born to Charles James Evans and Billie Louise Corbett Evans on Sunday, November 26th, 1944, in Joliet, Illinois. The Evans family moved to Texas in the summer of 1945 when Charles went to work for Ethyl Dow in Freeport. After their three children started school, Billie went to work in the law office of attorney Thad Davis and later in the attendance office at Clute Intermediate School. They were lifelong members of the First Christian Church in Freeport and lived in their home off Highway 288 in Clute for the rest of the lives.
Melinda and Glenn were best friends and dated on and off throughout their time at Brazosport High School. She graduated in 1961 and then attended college at Sam Houston State University. Very shortly before reluctantly (yet dutifully) answering his draft call to Vietnam, Glenn proposed and they married on Wednesday, November 23, 1966, at the First Christian Church in Freeport.
In 1971, Glenn went to work for the Dow Chemical Company, and they bought their home in Richwood where they have remained. They had two children, Scott Corbett and Jennifer Elizabeth Wren, and were surrounded by many wonderful neighbors and friends who became like family over the years. Melinda earned her real estate license in 1984, but for many years worked primarily as a timekeeper for Industrial Specialists, Inc., in Richwood.
She and Glenn bought a travel trailer when their children were young and enjoyed countless weekends making treasured memories with dear friends who shared their love for camping and fishing at Harris Reservoir, swimming and skiing on the San Bernard River, and traveling to New Braunfels to tube down the Guadalupe River. Additionally, Melinda had a green thumb and enjoyed tending her vibrantly colored hibiscuses and fragrant gardenia that covered her patio every spring and summer. She was an avid reader, a super collector of open salts which she procured from all over the world, a lover of old black-and-white movies, and if shopping were an Olympic sport, those who knew and loved Melinda would undoubtedly agree that she would've had more gold medals than anyone! Buying small gifts for people she cared about made her truly happy.
Her greatest investment of time, energy, and pure love manifested in her overwhelming adoration for nurturing babies. All babies, any and everywhere, any time! Her family often said, if there was a baby within a 100-mile radius that she could somehow find an opportunity to hold, cuddle, and lavish affection onto - that is exactly what she did! If she happened upon a crying baby in the grocery store or elsewhere, she was immediately, magnetically drawn to its side to offer comforting words and loving arms. More than anything on earth, she simply could not wait for her own grandchildren to arrive. She loved each of them with her whole heart their whole lives and could not have been more proud of the young women and men they've become.
Melinda was a comprehensively beautiful person. Her kindness, compassion, sense of humor, and love for life were unmistakable and contagious; the abundance of her lovely inner qualities additionally served to enhance the outer beauty God naturally blessed her with. During difficult times, you could find no better friend or trusted confidant. You could always count on her warm presence, big hugs, and empathetic words of wisdom, as they never failed to improve moods and brighten outlooks. Her generosity of spirit and her unique ability to genuinely celebrate the very essence of those she loved was simply unparalleled. If she loved you, you knew it, and you felt it at your core. You also instantly realized what a special gift it was to have her love. Her unique cultivation of the art of loving gave her the ability to bestow the gift of reflecting back all the beauty she found inside others.
Melinda's lovely heart and soul touched so many lives. All who knew her feel they are better for having had the opportunity to share their journey with her.
A short message from her daughter Jennifer: to Our Dear Father in Heaven, thank you for life of my extraordinary mother and for loving us enough to let us borrow her as long as you did. Among my very first memories as a small child, was my gazing up at her, entranced by her ethereal beauty, and being quite certain I would never see another as lovely. Well I was right, even then. And although I am still incapable of articulating precisely how, I have always known that Mama, inside and out, far more resembled the celestial beings with wings who abide with you and call Heaven home.
So, until we meet again, know that we will love and miss you always., Mama. We trust you are home with God and soar with the angels now - the only ones truly capable of reflecting all your true beauty back to you.
Visitation and a Memorial Service will be held at 10am and 11am, respectively, on Friday, May 12th, 2023, at Lake wood Chapel in Clute. Interment will be directly following the service across the way in the Mausoleum at Dignity Memorial. Should friends desire to make a memorial donation in her name, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital: https://www.stjude.org/donate/donate-to-st-jude.html?frequency_selected=2&sjfaq-memorialdonation-text and Shriners Children's Texas: www.lovetotherescue.org were closest to her heart.
Honoring Melinda's memory and the entire Wren family with their service as Pallbearers are five sets of brothers who grew up alongside her children on Hollyhock Street in Richwood. We could not have known how special our close-knit home bases were or how golden our own growing up era (mid-70s - 80s) turned out to be. The kids who were raised on Hollyhock had multiple sets of parents to watch out for them and love them, and in turn, the kids all loved the parents as their own. What a gift it was to grow up watching our parents share their unique talents and help each other: we had a nurse, a great carpenter, a Mr. Fix it, an animal lover who took care of our pets when we went on vacation, a Cub Scout Den Mother, etc. Together they shared little league coaching stints, milestone celebrations, losses, backyard BBQs, and carpool duty while we kids shared birthdays, slumber parties, slip-n-slides, rode dirt bikes….
Thank you for the precious memories, gentlemen: Christopher Wayne and Jeffrey David Allen, both of Austin via Hollyhock; Joseph (''Jody'') Lee and Jason Ross Hickman, both of Richwood/Clute via Hollyhock; Steven (''Butch'') Curtiss Miles, of Austin via Hollyhock; Kenneth (''Skeet'') Wayne Miles, of Houston via Hollyhock; Adam Charles Wegwerth, of Richwood via Hollyhock; and Aaron James Wegwerth, of Lake Jackson via Hollyhock;
Heavenly Honorary Pallbearers are Bryan Paul and Gary Belton Ross, both of Heaven via Hollyhock; Honorary Pallbearers (who I'm sure would have resided on our street, too, had they known what they were missing!) are Tommy D. Milner, of Lake Jackson, and Dominique Marquez Estrello, of Richwood.
''Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things…And the God of peace will be with you.'' ~Philippians 4: 8-9

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