Stephania (Stella) Myrd Mccomas Obituary (1917 - 2019)

Stephania (Stella) Mark McComas (Peek-a-Boo the clown), passed away at the age of 102 on December 14, 2019 of natural causes. Stella Mark was born in 1917 in Detroit, Michigan, to Antonio and Rosalia Mark, both immigrants, from an area of the Ukraine that at the time of their births was under governmental control of Austria. Education: Stella's education began long before she entered the school system. She and her brother learned English as they played on the streets of Brooklyn outside of the delicatessen owned by her father. When she was four or five, her family moved to the Los Angeles area, where she learned math by being given the responsibility of making the change for up to a dime in her father's grocery store. She was an avid reader and used to pull her wagon to the local library where she filled it with books on a variety of subjects, reading them as quickly as possible so that she could go back and get more. She attended local elementary schools and was so intelligent that she skipped two grades. When she caught up with her brother, her parents wouldn't let her go ahead of him, even though the teachers wanted to promote her. She graduated from Lincoln High School in Los Angeles at the age of sixteen. Outstanding memories: Her mother was quite ill for most of her growing years so Stella spent a good deal of time alone reading or helping her father in his store. She had a few friends, but her parents didn't speak much English and so the family was somewhat isolated after they left New York. She was the May Queen at her elementary school when she was in the third grade, and at the same time learned to play the piano and found a great deal of joy in learning as much as she could about all types of music. Some of her favorite times were when her father took her on the streetcar to see the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. She recalled the day of the "crash," when she looked out the window of their apartment in the morning and watched the people going to work on the streetcar and then how devastated they all were when they returned that night having lost everything. It left a lasting impression on her and instilled in her a very frugal nature. She met Willis Frank McComas when she was fifteen, while playing the piano for a jazz band. It was in Pasadena at a location where young people came to dance. They married when she was barely eighteen, and they had a very interesting life together as they faced the challenges of being a young couple in a struggling society. They had three children, with whom they instilled strong moral values and the importance of being thrifty. She was a wonderful cook, an accomplished seamstress, a community volunteer, and a loving wife and mother. Willis passed away more than twenty years before she did and around the same time, at the age of 80, Stella took on the hobby of being a clown and chose the name Peek-a-Boo. She made all of her own costumes and volunteered her time going to senior centers, participating in fundraising activities like cancer walks and Alzheimer runs. She also enjoyed entertaining young people with the expertise that she developed in making balloon animals. At age 91, she went to a movie audition with her daughter and got a part in the film. She then continued to be cast in movies like "One Good Man" and the "Letter Writer," commercials and even got to play the widow with two mites in a production of the New Testament produced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Favorite accomplishments: She was an accomplished pianist. Her last "gig" was playing for the senior choir at the local senior center when she was 93. She made most of her children's clothes as they were growing up and she could make a dollar go farther than just about anyone. She loved to travel with Willis and they went on many trips throughout the United States, Asia, Europe, South America, New Zealand, and the Holy Lands. They loved being together as they experienced different cultures. (She was quite courageous as she tried foods from foreign lands, but Willis not so brave.) Secret to longevity: Healthy food, exercise (she started doing yoga when she turned 55 years old) a clear conscience, debt-free living and a positive attitude. Descendants: She is survived by her daughter, Carole (Cornell) Taylor; and her son, Willis F. (Marie Dibble) McComas II; 15 grandchildren; 32 great grandchildren; 18 great great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents; her brothers, Walter and George; her sister, Meri; plus her daughter, Sally (Paul) Eckel; her son-in-law, Cornell; and two grandchildren, Lynne Dee Taylor and Trevor Taylor. Funeral Services will be held in her honor on Wednesday, December 18, 2019 at Myers Mortuary, 250 North Fairfield Road, Layton, Utah with a viewing from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday evening and 9:30-10:30 Wednesday prior to the service. Interment will be at Rose Hills Cemetery in California next to her husband, Willie.