GENE ELLEN ROGERS MACLAY, age 86, died at 5:50 p.m., Sunday, January 27, 2013 at The Sweet Life Care Center in Shawnee, KS.
She was born October 23, 1926 in Dorena, daughter of the late Webb Jones Rogers and John Dallas Rogers, and lived in Dorena and Charleston most of her life.
Following her graduation from Charleston High School she taught in several of the Mississippi County rural schools. She decided to move to Washington D.C. with a group of Charleston girls where she was employed at the Pentagon. While in Washington D.C. she met US Air Force pilot, William Dorsey "Bill" Maclay, who became her lifelong love and they later married at the Portland Air Force Base Chapel in Portland, Oregon. .
After living in Virginia and Alaska, Gene and Bill moved to Charleston in the mid-1950s with their young daughter Mary Ellen to farm with her parents. While living in Charleston, she graduated from Southeast Missouri State University with a Bachelor degree in education. In 1968, they moved to Powell Butte, Oregon, near Bill's parents, where they owned a cattle ranch and she taught second and third grade at Powell Butte School for almost ten years. Then returning to Charleston, she substituted in Mississippi County schools, was active in D.A.R and genealogy research, was an avid antique shopper, a member of P.E.O., a lifetime member of the Hawaiian Mission Children's Society, and the Charleston United Methodist Church.
She was preceded in death by her son, William Rogers Maclay in 1983, and her husband Bill in 2001.
Surviving is one daughter and son in law, Mary Ellen and Gary Weaver of Shawnee, Kansas, and one granddaughter Laura Ann Weaver, a student at the University of Hong Kong.
Visitation will be held on Thursday, January 31, 2013, at the Charleston United Methodist Church, from 10:00 am until the Funeral Hour at 11:00 am. Rev. Dan Faust, pastor, will officiate.
Interment will follow at the IOOF Cemetery under the direction of McMikle Funeral Home.
Pallbearers will be Mike Bryant, JonJo Bryant, Kenny Kindle, Larry French, Tripp Logan, and Smith DeLine.
Honorary Pallbearers will be Leslie Fox, Jackie Barker, Paul William Hill and Eddie Murr.
Memorial Contributions may be made to:
Charleston United Methodist Church, PO Box 351, Charleston, MO 63834
~~~ or ~~~
Mississippi County Library – Newnam Branch, 105 E. Marshall, Charleston, MO 63834.