Ethlyn Orene McCleave

Ethlyn was born Ethlyn Orene Heriford on July 21, 1920, on a porch in Princeton, Missouri, the first of three children of Bonnie and Howard Heriford. She graduated at age 16 from Princeton High School, and attended Maryville State Teachers College (now NMSU) during the summer while teaching in rural schools during the school year. In 1940 she married Earl McCleave, known to his friends as Mac. The couple moved to Kansas City where they briefly taught together in a two-room schoolhouse. During WWII, Ethlyn was a bonafide “Rosie the Riveter,” bravely following Mac to California where he was in officer training in the Army Air Corps.

After over a decade in Kansas City Ethlyn and Mac adopted a daughter, Annasue. During the 1960s Ethlyn worked in various branches of the federal government, while volunteering in leadership roles in the service of the underprivileged. She was president of Clay County Human Resources and a member of the Metropolitan Human Resources Corporation. She organized the first Head Start School in Clay County and coordinated the establishment of Clay County Clothes Closet (now the Northland Clothing Center). She was a charter member of Grace Baptist Church from 1960 to the present and served as president of the Clay County Church Women. In 1979 she graduated from Park University, the same day Annasue graduated from SMU in Dallas. She retired in 1988 from the Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Department at HUD.

She was a devoted mother to Annasue and her husband John H. Wilson III, and a loving, hands-on grandmother (“Nonna”) to John IV, Sophie and Veronica Wilson. She and Mac traveled extensively during their retirement and enjoyed life at home in Gladstone. The extended family spent many happy moments in their backyard in Carriage Hills, which even included a wedding. Proficient with a computer, she finished her memoirs at age 100, just as she was losing her sight, and celebrated her centenary during the 2020 pandemic by watching a drive-by parade in her honor from her front yard. She is survived by Annasue and John, grandchildren John Wilson IV (Morgan Petriello), Anna Sophia Wilson (Christopher Gibson), Veronica Wilson (Travis Martin), and great grandchildren Jack and Gus Wilson and Anna and Lily Gibson. She was an integral part of all our lives and will be missed for her steadfast and tireless devotion, tenacity and resilience. It is amazing to think of what she witnessed during her 105 years of life, born during the influenza pandemic of 1920 and living through the depression and WWII into the 21st century. A life-long Democrat, she lived for others. She was truly a member of what Tom Brokaw called “the greatest generation.”

The family would like to thank caregivers Tami Plackard and Priscilla Addo-Mensah for their tireless devotion.

There will be a memorial service at Grace Baptist Church, 3101 NE Vivion Road in Kansas City on Saturday, March 14, 2026, at 11 am.

Please send donations in Ethlyn’s honor to Northland Head Start, 3100 Northeast 83rd Street, Kansas City, MO 64119, or Grace Baptist Daycare, 3101 NE Vivion Rd., Kansas City, MO 64119.