Genevieve Johnston Clay
Genevieve Scott Johnston Clay went to be with her Lord and Saviour on January 17, 2022.
She was born February 5, 1940 in Kingsport, Tenn., the daughter of the Rev. Dr. Thomas Marion Johnston and Catherine Genevieve Scott. The family lived in Rogersville, Tenn. and then Atlanta, Ga., before coming to Lexington, Ky. in 1949. She is survived by her brother, Thomas W. Johnston, of Rockledge, Fla.; her nieces, Tracy Johnston Nassida (Vince), of Richmond, and Julie Johnston Tracy (Scott), of Tampa, Fla.; her nephew, Paul David Johnston, of Lexington; several great nieces and great nephews; and numerous special friends and cousins. She was predeceased by her parents, the Rev. Dr. Thomas Marion Johnston and Catherine Genevieve Scott. Genevieve attended school in Atlanta, Ga., and then Lexington, Ky., where her father was pastor of the Maxwell Street Presbyterian Church. She graduated from Henry Clay High School in 1958. Also in 1958, she played viola in the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestra which played for a national string teacher’s convention in Carnegie Hall, New York City, on April 13, 1958.
She went on to graduate from Southwestern-at-Memphis (now Rhodes College) in 1962, where she received an associate's degree with a major in Bible. In her first summer home from college, a family friend suggested she apply for a job as a clerk in the University of Kentucky’s Margaret I. King Library. How fortuitous this was! This was the beginning of her library career; she never had any other kind of job. Moreover, she married a librarian, and when he died, she married a college professor! She married Larry Jacob Pope of Brooksville, Ky. on July 10, 1965. She and Larry moved to Richmond, Ky. in August 1966 where each of them took positions in Eastern Kentucky University’s Crabbe Library. Upon Larry’s untimely death, she married Dr. William Wilson Hume Clay of Winchester, Ky. on December 22, 1975. Genevieve earned a Master of Library Science degree from UK in 1969 and another associate's degree in voice performance from Eastern in 1986. She held various positions in Eastern’s library, from which she retired as a librarian emeritus in 2002.
A cradle Presbyterian, she was a 50-year-member of Richmond’s First Presbyterian Church, where she was at various times a Deacon, an Elder and Clerk of the Session for eight years. She also actively participated in the church’s chancel and hand bell choirs as long as her health allowed. In later years she enjoyed attending the Episcopal Church of Our Saviour where she appreciated the liturgy and new friendships formed there.
For more than 40 years she cherished attending the uplifting Montreat Music and Worship Conferences in Montreat, North Carolina.
Upon her retirement from Eastern’s library, she became a family genealogist. She was particularly interested in her father’s being from the fourth consecutive generation of Presbyterian ministers in his Johnston lineage. She diligently researched her four family lines of Johnston, Withers, Scott and Deal. This new passion afforded her much pleasure in her later years.
Visitation will be from 9 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Friday, January 28, 2022, at Oldham, Roberts & Powell Funeral Home, Richmond, Ky.. Family requests masking due to Covid19 during visitation.
A private burial will be held following visitation at the Lexington Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent to the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestras, 161 N. Mill St. Lexington KY 40507, the International Book Project, Van Meter Bldg. 1440 Delaware Ave. Lexington KY 40505 or the 1st Presbyterian Church Love Fund, PO Box 165, Richmond KY 40476-0165.