"Missy, Miss-Miss, Mahee"

Choir 2, 3, 4; Fidelio 3, 4; Senior Mid Drama Group 3; Bazaar Committee Head 3; Dance Group 3, 4; Debating Society 3, 4; Cheerleader 4; Social Committee 4; A.C.A. Representative 4; Proctor 4.

"Susie...if it's tooo tight I'll positively crump! Eliiii -- Yale!" Pet Peeve---Gnats with complexes; early morning foxes. Foibles--- Perpetually playing cupid. Making "gapher faces." Noted for: Her Hairy "Sambo;" a love of life; scintillating southern sentiments. Coffee breaks.

Education: Vassar College, BA in Drama & English, 1963

Spouse: John J. McCloy II, Chairman,
Gravitas Technology, Inc.

Children: John J. McCloy III
Rush Middleton McCloy

Grandchildren: Jack (5) and Maverick (3)

Career: Editor at Glamor for Conde Nast; Fashion Editor at Good Housekeeping; Asst. Producer at Young & Rubicam; Consultant at American Cyanamid to coordinate television and print for all Breck products to create a consistent look for the “Breck girl”; CEO of McCloy Interiors for 30 years. The designing career was initiated by House Beautiful’s fourteen page coverage of Johnnie’s (now husband) newly built house in Vermont (had I known he would propose, I would have drawn in an upstairs laundry room!)

Non-Sibi: Board member, The Boys’ Club of New York and The Horticultural Society of New York; founded and was Chairperson of the Garden Club of Bavaria (GCB), which was based on the charter and by-laws of the Garden Club of America (GCA). The joy of the GCB was in belonging to the GCA, which meant that the visiting garden program was available to all members on both sides of the Atlantic. The resulting friendships have enhanced many members’ lives and helped foster trans-Atlantic relations.

Sibi: Gardening, skiing, traveling, most particularly, friendships in many parts of the world

In a conversation with Susie Goodwillie Stedman last November, Missy
reported that what she remembered most about Abbot were the
Gargoyle Walks to Andover and the subsequent rendevous with a
special Andover beau. “Also special was the pleasure of constant
singing (due to choir) and wonderful friends.”

Forty years ago, shortly after the final fitting of her dress for a
marriage to someone else, Missy met John McCloy II skiing down
Mad River Glen in Vermont. “It was a ‘coup de foudre’,” she
said. They have been married for 39 years, living in New York,
Greenwich, Connecticut, Munich, London, and traveling a great deal
throughout the world.

In 1976, John’s work took the family to Munich. Though Missy
worried that Munich was all about ‘dumplings and dreariness,’ she
subscribed to “‘wither thou goest” and followed Johnnie with their
boys. The warmth with which the McCloys were received, in
part due to the repute of John’s father, who had been the U.S.
High Commissioner to Germany after the war, made it a happily
memorable experience for the entire family. The children became
fluent in German and continue to use their language skills in their
professional lives. Though they left Munich in 1980, Missy and John
visit there often, to stay in touch with Missy’s “greatest joy—our many
friends in Munich, elsewhere in Europe, India, in the U.S.”

Jay, their eldest son, is with BASF, an international chemical
company, and Rush is a partner in a private equity firm in New York.
Rush’s career was unexpectedly interrupted by his deployment to
active duty as a Naval Reserve Officer to Afghanistan, serving
along the Pakistani border. He returned safely last November and
Missy was looking forward to his wedding in March 2009. She wants
to thank each and all of you who prayed for him and his colleagues.
She attributes those prayers to bringing him safely home.

Missy also loved the creative side of her work. At McCloy Interiors she
did mostly residential work. “It’s always amazing to walk into a space
you have created and wonder where it came from!”

Though Missy continues to lead a full life, she is in considerable
pain, anticipating replacement of both shoulders and both knees as
a consequence of Lyme disease contracted during all those years
of passionate gardening. She’s postponing surgery until after
Rush’s wedding, but once it’s behind her, she wants to do something
serious about fighting Lyme Disease,which, she feels, needs to be
better understood. “If Evelyn Lauder can make such extraordinary
strides with breast cancer, we can together keep Lyme disease
from destroying so many lives. PLEASE HELP!”

For the past three years, Missy and John have rented a house in
Palm Beach during the winter. “I adore it,” Missy said, “you
feel as if you have so much more time. There is an intellectual and
spiritual life and it is so beautiful. I need to be in a beautiful place.
We all do and Palm Beach satisfies those needs for me.”

Missy with grandchildren, Jack and Maverick

Missy and Johnny fishing.

On the Web

Run4Research