SARAH RACHEL BELCHER MCMAHON of Bethany, OK was born Sept. 25, 1924, in Clovis, NM, and embraced eternity on Friday, October 1, 2010. Rachel was an only child of parents Hatley Ora and Lucy Donaghe Belcher, who met and married while homesteading, singly, in Quay County, New Mexico. Her Father was a farmer, and her mother was employed in teaching. She attended school in Forrest, NM --just outside Clovis-- where as a high school senior, Rachel placed first in a national 4-H competition, having sewn an award-winning white eyelet lace dress on a pedal-powered machine, for which she received a trip to Chicago. In the Fall of 1942, she enrolled in Bethany Peniel College (now Southern Nazarene University) where she excelled as a 4-year Honor Student and editor of the REVEILLE ECHO Campus Newspaper. Graduating Magna Cum Laude in the spring of 1946, with a degree in Psychology, Rachel was honored by being selected for Who's Who Among Students In American Universities and Colleges. At age 21, she married Rev. Louis Oliver McMahon, in a garden ceremony at the Clovis Church of the Nazarene, on August 12, 1946 --their marriage lasting more than 50 years, until the passing of Louis in 1997. In ministry together for over 40 years, Louis and Rachel pastored in the states of Washington, Oregon, California, Oklahoma, and Illinois and as is often the lot of ministers, they moved 7 times in one year. As an elementary school teacher, primarily for 2nd and 3rd grades, Rachel taught in each of the communities Louis was assigned to pastor, including seven years at Bethany Elementary, in the late ‘60s, during which time she worked on her Masters of Arts Degree in Education at Central State College, (now UCO) in Edmond --graduating in 1968. From Bethany, they moved to the Tri-City area of Illinois --Kankakee, Olivet, Bourbonnais-- where she continued teaching until retirement, at which time they moved to Olathe, KS, wintering in Indio, CA, joyfully ministering in the Happy Wanderer Campground. In 1995, they returned to Bethany, OK, to be reunited with college and ministerial friends, enjoying fellowship and cutthroat games of "Rummy". Louis preceded Rachel in death, passing May 19, 1997, after which she maintained an independent life for the past thirteen years, serving family and friends, as well as committing time to volunteer tutoring for an adult literacy program, well into her ‘80s. Family survivors include two children --daughter, Carolyn Snowbarger and her husband Vince, of Bristow, Virginia; and son David McMahon and his wife Kimberly, of Bethany, OK; seven grandchildren Jeff Snowbarger and his wife Laura, of Lisbon, Iowa; Matt Snowbarger of Avon, CO; Skye McMahon Buswell, and husband Nate of Durango, CO; Brooke McMahon Peterson and husband Troy, of Ignacio, CO; Sean McMahon and wife Christa, of Durango, CO; Rachel Curtis and Emily Curtis, of Bethany, OK; and three much-beloved and long-awaited great-grandchildren --Leo Snowbarger, of Lisbon, Iowa; Cody Buswell, of Durango, CO; and Travis Peterson of Ignacio, CO; sister-in-law Ruth Lavelle Bennett and her husband Bill of Crescent, OK; various nieces and nephews; and her two long-time feline companions Sadie and George. Funeral services will be Tuesday, October 5, 10:00 a.m. at Mercer-Adams Chapel with interment in Bethany Cemetery. Memorials may be made to the Louis McMahon Scholarship Fund at Southern Nazarene University.