Mary Elizabeth "Jane" Clevenger

Mary Elizabeth Clevenger, known to all as Jane, died Wednesday, February 25, 2026. She was 98.

Jane was the 13th child of John and Julie Pippin. She grew up in Benham, Kentucky, a coal mining town considered to be a model of progressive civic planning by the International Harvester Company. Jane was fiercely proud of her Bluegrass roots and was a passionate and loyal fan of University of Kentucky basketball.

She married Gene Clevenger in 1948, beginning her figurative and literal journey as a Navy wife. Always open to the next adventure around the bend, Jane embraced each new duty station, whether it was the sunny beaches of San Diego or 30 ft. snowdrifts in Newfoundland. With a sailor as a husband, she was often charged with single parenting duties, raising two children – Terry and Susan – and a long line of collie dogs.

Jane and Gene had a strong and tender marriage, one that was cut short when Gene died at the too-early age of 48 in 1973. Their children remember their parents’ marriage as one of humor, mutual respect, and shared vision. No doubt, one of the magic elements of their union was the fact that Jane was skilled in the art of collecting empty mayonnaise jars and coffee cans, while Gene was just a little more skilled in the art of throwing them away.

The family moved to Summerville, SC, in the late summer of 1959, arriving mere days before Hurricane Gracie – a category 4 storm that devasted the Lowcountry. Once again, with Gene out to sea somewhere in the Atlantic, Jane, knowing virtually no one in town, characteristically took control of the situation. The day after the storm, she was perhaps more daunted by the thought of missing her morning cup of coffee than she was being crushed by a falling pine tree. She solved the problem by pulling out the camping equipment, firing up the Coleman stove, and brewing a pot of Maxwell House. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee wafting through open windows got the attention of her neighbors. “I met half of Summerville that morning,” Jane was fond of remembering, “when all those people showed up to introduce themselves and everybody just happened to be carrying an empty coffee cup!”

If, perhaps, the Hurricane Gracie story became embellished through the years, it still serves to exemplify the essence of Jane. She met the obstacles of her life not without trepidation, but with confidence and determination and always with an eye to the blue skies that were sure to materialize once the storm had passed.

Jane served her community in numerous ways, as a brownie and girl scout leader, as a volunteer in Red Cross swimming classes, in the Summerville Garden Club, as a member of Eastern Star, and through her involvement at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church. She and Gene raised and showed collies and made life-long friends through the Charleston Kennel Club.

She loved her years as a financial secretary for DD2 Schools, spending most of her 20 year career at Alston Middle School. At Alston she served as confidant and nursemaid to students (and maybe a few teachers!) and continued making and cementing new friendships. And she was always proud of her squeaky clean audits.

Following her retirement from DD2 and now near 70, Jane began a second career as a travel agent, entering into yet again a new circle of friends and traveling the globe. One of Jane’s favorite trips was to Churchill, Manitoba, to see the polar bears as they gathered along the Hudson Bay coast to begin their migration. She was equally thrilled by camera safaris in Kenya, where she “bartered with a Maasai warrior,” and brought home his spear, “tipped with the blood of a vanquished lion.” She was the queen of the cruise lines, having embarked on a total of 65 cruises before hanging up her travel agent badge. Through it all, she never met a stranger and seemed to find the good in everyone she met.

Well, not always. She hated squirrels when they raided her bird feeders. But she was deadly with a pellet gun. Jane is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Susan and Bob Overstreet; daughter-in-law, Robin Patton Clevenger; grandchildren and their spouses, Emerson and Kristen Overstreet, Shane and Lauren Clevenger, and Jessica and Matt Carter; and great-grandchildren, Ayla, Knox, Blake, and Emma. She was predeceased by her husband, Eugene V. Clevenger, and son, Terry Gene Clevenger.

The family will be forever grateful to the amazing staff of the Village of Summerville and all the angels at Agape Hospice. Visitation will be Monday evening, March 9, 2026, at Parks from 5-7. A celebration of Jane’s life will be held the next morning, Tuesday, March 10, at 11:00 at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, Central Ave, Summerville. Interment will follow at Summerville Cemetery, Boone Hill Road.

For those wishing to honor Jane with a memorial donation, the family suggests the following organizations: The ARK of SC (thearkofsc.org), the Timrod Library (thetimrodlibrary.org), or Agape Hospice (sc.agapecaregroup.com).

Arrangements by PARKS FUNERAL HOME, 130 West 1st North Street, Summerville, SC 29483. www.parksfuneralhome.com

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