MARJORIE CLEO TURNER MOCK
July 13, 1916 – February 15, 2022
Cleo Mock was born July 13, 1916, to Delia Noel McFarland Turner and Aaron Alenson Turner in Tokyo, Texas. Cleo moved to Patagonia at the age of 16 to care for her grandmother, Jane McFarland. Soon after, her mother and younger siblings joined the family at the Turner Ranch off Harshaw Rd. Cleo played guitar and sang with her brother Jack Turner, sister Edith Watson, Margaret Bove, and the String Benders. She excelled at sports, especially basketball.
Cleo finished high school in Patagonia and then received her associates degree at La Sierra College in Riverside, CA. She met Delmar Mock there and they were married in the Patagonia Community Church in 1940. After he completed medical school the couple set up a medical practice in Patagonia.
They had three redheaded girls, Carolyn, Winona and Delma, who are all nurses. Cleo and Delmar adopted a son, Delbert, who is a diesel mechanic. The couple has nine grandchildren, seventeen great-grandchildren, and 12 great-great-grandchildren.
While living in Patagonia, Cleo led the vacation bible school for many years, sharing God’s love with the young people of Patagonia, and helped many local children learn to swim. She was a seamstress and made Alice Murrieta’s wedding dress, as well as costumes for plays and activities at the church. She was an advocate for healthy living and served many wonderful vegan/vegetarian meals. She loved to share the trust-healing picture of God with everyone with bible stories and music.
She now rests until the return of our Lord to join her loved ones, as Jesus is returning soon to take us home.
The following is an excerpt from a PRT article first published in 2015:
A Life Intertwined With Patagonia’s Early History
by Ann Katzenbach
Cleo Mock, the wife of Delmar Mock, who was Patagonia’s only doctor for many years, turned 99 on July 13 [2015]. The thread of her long life runs through more than 80 years of Patagonia’s history and, in a larger sense, the development of the West, for she was born in what is now a Texas ghost town and first arrived in Arizona at Fairbank, which today is another ghost town. Her family moved here during the dust bowl days, piling everything into a cattle truck.
Marjorie Cleo Mock was born to Al and Delia Turner in the small town of Tokyo, TX in 1916. There were 11 siblings. Cleo was the middle child. Her grandfather Turner was a rancher in Patagonia and when his wife became ill in 1932, he asked if one of the girls could come and help him care for her. Cleo was chosen and at age 16, she got on a train in Pecos, TX and disembarked in Fairbanks, AZ.
Back then, the Turner Ranch had a big orchard. Cleo was kept busy nursing her grandmother, doing chores, and going to Patagonia High School, which was then in a building across from the Fire Station. It soon became obvious that the ranch needed more help, so most of her family in Texas packed up everything and moved to Patagonia.
As a Seventh Day Adventist, Cleo attended Loma Linda university in California. It was there that she met Delmar Mock. A noteworthy part of their courtship found Cleo sewing cushions and Delmar making chairs in the adjoining room. They were so busy sneaking glances at each other that Delmar cut off the tip of his middle finger, a lasting souvenir of young love.
Delmar came to Patagonia for a visit. He was in love with Cleo and then he fell in love with Patagonia. After the war, they came here and set up a medical practice – although he was told that he was a fool to come to such a remote, rough place.
Their first residence was in a hotel that stood where the Patagonia Market is now. Cleo insisted from the beginning that the office and their quarters be in the same building. She says she didn’t think she and the children would ever see the doctor if he had to go across town to get home. As the family grew, Cleo stuck to her plan, and they moved into a building on Duquesne Ave. that is now apartments. Under one roof was a medical clinic and office, a residence for a growing family and a Seventh Day Adventist school.
Cleo was right about not seeing much of her husband. He was up before daybreak, setting up surgeries and making rounds in Nogales. He came back to Patagonia to see patients in his clinic and have lunch with his family. Then it was off to Sierra Vista and Huachuca where he saw patients, sometimes until midnight. In between these trips, he delivered babies. While he was away, Cleo held down the medical fort in Patagonia, giving injections, sewing up wounds, and giving advice. If a baby needed extra care, it came to the Mocks’ bedroom to spend the night.
With a growing family, the Mocks decided to build a house and incorporated a swimming pool in the plans. Cleo ran Vacation Bible School at the church across the street for 25 years. Many local children attended, in part, Cleo remembers, because they got to swim in the pool.
Looking around today’s Patagonia, the changes she points to are the difference in rainfall (much less now), the fire station where there was once just a wooden shack, the new high school, recycling, the community garden, and the park. She remembers the park as being full of corrals where cattle were kept before being put on the train. “Today the homes are much nicer with stucco and paint. It used to be a junky town,” she admits, “but full of good people.”