Johnnie Mae Ross McCloud, of Lebanon, Missouri, died August 22, 2021. Johnnie was an elder at White Oak Pond Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Johnnie was active in women’s ministry at White Oak Pond. She also served Cumberland Presbyterian Women as president on the presbyterial and synodic levels. Johnnie was the widow of the Reverend Theron Marshall McCloud, former pastor of White Oak Pond, who died in 1999.
Johnnie was born October 8, 1931, to John Elbert and Lottie Mae Ross in Little Rock, Arkansas. When Johnnie was eleven, the family moved to Jackson, Tennessee, and she graduated from Jackson High School in 1949. She attended Bethel College in McKenzie, Tennessee, where she met Theron McCloud, a student at the Cumberland Presbyterian Theological Seminary. They married June 1, 1951. They served churches in Odessa and Sedalia, Missouri; Muskogee, Oklahoma; Denton, Texas; and Ramer, Tennessee, before being called to White Oak Pond in 1961.
Johnnie was an exemplary teacher serving two country schools; Zion for one year and Bolles for four years. In 1966, she graduated from Drury University in Springfield Missouri. After graduation she began teaching at Donnelly Elementary School in Lebanon. Johnnie taught fifth grade for three years and first grade for 22 years.
