Clifford Lee Hendrick, age 96, of Clinton, Missouri passed away on Monday, February 23, 2026 at Golden Valley Memorial Hospital in Clinton, Missouri.
Clifford Lee Hendrick was born on January 27, 1930 to Ralph Willard and Ollie (Windes) Hendrick in Montrose, Missouri.
Cliff received his elementary education at Farmer’s Institute in Montrose, and grew up in the Bear Creek community with his first and only love, Mary Evelyn Johnson. He moved to Murtaugh, Idaho with his family in 1944 where he fell in love with agriculture. In 1946 the family moved to Lyndon, Washington where they raised commercial strawberries and raspberries. After graduation from high school, Cliff was drafted into the Army at Ft. Lewis, Washington. He later completed radio school at Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey.
Cliff married Mary Evelyn Johnson on December 28, 1951 in Montrose, Missouri. She soon joined him in Tacoma, Washington until his discharge from the Army in 1953. They briefly lived in Kansas City, farming in Montrose on the weekends, before moving to their childhood home of Bear Creek.
They had two daughters, Sandra and Karen. They relocated to Clinton where Cliff drove rock trucks and raised field crops. He later began raising Angus and Polled Herford Cattle along with driving trucks until he retired in 1989.
Cliff loved learning and completed an electrical wiring class at the Clinton Vo-tech school. He spent his retirement years enjoying wood working, reading, gardening, volunteering as a charter member of the Golden Valley Bluegrass Association, a member of the Missouri Nut Growers Association, hunting, fishing, spending time with family and friends and playing couples Canasta every weekend with his brother in law and sister in law, Wayne and Norma. The men were certain to always lose, but the weekly game night tradition endured for over forty years.
He will be remembered for his time spent supporting his daughters as a softball coach and a 4-H photography leader and teaching his grandchildren Christian Values through their conversations and shared interests.
Cliff was preceded in death by his parents, 3 brothers (infant Ralph Windes, Ralph Windes and William Ellis) and his wife of 67 years who passed in 2019.
He is survived by his daughters, Sandy Levering and Karen Bennink, grandchildren, Rachel (Cliff) Thompson, Michael Levering, Ben (Ashley ) Levering, Keith (Emily) Bennink and Andrew Bennink, seven great grandchildren, Nina Levering, Summer Levering, Luke Levering, Logan Levering, Barrett Bennink, Gunner Bennink and Werner Bennink, one sister-in-law, Marge Hendrick, many nieces and nephews, and dear friends and neighbors.
Funeral services were held March 2, 2026 at the Vansant-Mills Funeral Home, Clinton with Rev. David Mills officiating. The casket bearers were Keith Bennink, Cliff Thompson, Nina Levering, Rachel Thompson, Benjamin Levering and Michael Levering. Andrew Bennink was an honorary bearers. Interment followed in Vansant Road Cemetery, Clinton, MO.
Services were under the direction of Vansant-Mills Funeral Home of Clinton, MO.
