Clara Francis Basco McDaniel

A Mass of Christian burial for Clara Francis Basco McDaniel will be held on Sunday, the 27th of November 2011 at the St. Margaret Mary Catholic Mission in Gorum at 2 p.m. with Father Jason Gootee serving as celebrant. Burial will follow in Gorum Cemetery. Friends are invited to a visitation with the family on Saturday, the 26th of November 2011 at the St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church Hall starting at 1p.m. and continuing until service time the following day. Recitation of the holy rosary will begin at 6:30 p.m. Mrs. McDaniel, age 78, of Gorum, passed away on Friday, the 25th of November 2011 at the St. Francis Christus Cabrini Hospital in Alexandria. She was a veteran of the Korean War serving proudly in the United States Women’s Army Corps. She graduated from Northwestern State College in 1963 with a Liberal Arts degree in Social Welfare. She then worked as the program director for special services at Fort Polk. She continued her educational journey and earned her Master’s of History degree from Northwestern State University in 1985. She served several school boards teaching in Amelia, Gorum and then retiring in Boyce. She was an educational scholar and an avid world traveler, traveling to Europe, Asia and the Holy Land. Those left to cherish her memory are her children, Clara Basco Coutee and husband Kenneth of Pineville, Carson Ermunda Rose Basco-Yazdani and husband Ahmad of Midland, Texas, Craig Nichols Jones and wife Carolyn of Pineville, Carmello Mayo Casciari and wife DeAnna of Gorum, Cannon Edwin Paddie and wife Trina of Gorum, Catherine Leva McDaniel-Russell and husband Kenneth of Natchitoches; her sister, Carmen Basco Troquille of Gorum; her brother, Charles Basco of Gorum; her grandchildren, Mary Coutee, Timothy Coutee, Sarah Williams, Rachel Johnson, Cyrus Yazdani, Cameron Yazdani, Chad Franklin, Kevin Franklin, Ryan Franklin, Courtney Barber, Carson Jones, Crystal Casciari, Brittany Cedars, Clara Roseanne Casciari, Carmello Casciari, Catherine Paddie, Caleb Paddie, Carmen Paddie, Craig Paddie, William Warford, Caeden Warford, Carly Russell and Kenneth Russell; her 16 great grandchildren and numerous nieces, nephews and friends. She is preceded in death by her parents, Carson and Mae Belle Basco; her husband, William Normand McDaniel; her sisters, Carly Wright, Corliss Basco, Catherine Guerino, Charlotte Lester, Doris Johnson; one brother, Carlton Basco. Pallbearers will be Phillip Schilling, Richard Schilling, Timothy Coutee, Cameron Yazdani, Cyrus Yazdani, and Marlin Basco.