Colleen McBride

(From Clark Funeral Home)

Norma Colleen ‘Cody’ McBride was born March 6, 1931, in Butterfield, Missouri, one of three daughters to Walter and Bertha (Hankins) Gray. She entered into rest on March 10, 2022, at Medicalodge in Neosho at the age of ninety-one. 

Colleen was a lifelong area resident, with the exception of a few years living in California, while her father worked in the shipyards during WWII. She graduated from Butterfield High School in 1949 and then attended and graduated from Monett Junior College. 

She began her teaching career at Butterfield Elementary School. Colleen attended and graduated from Springfield Teacher’s College, going to school during the summers and teaching in the winter. She obtained a master’s degree from the University of Arkansas. After several years in Butterfield, she moved to Neosho with her sisters, Wilma and Wanda Gray and taught at Field School. 

During her time in Neosho, she met J. D. McBride and they were married on August 7, 1965. Colleen later taught in the East Newton and Triway Schools for twenty-six years, teaching second grade and retired in 1993 with a total of thirty-nine and a half years as an educator, with three of those years as the Elementary Librarian for the Neosho schools. She touched the lives of over nine hundred students during her career. While living in Butterfield, she was a member of the Butterfield Baptist Church. 

Following her marriage to J.D., she joined the United Methodist Church and was active as a Sunday School teacher, youth leader of UMY and served as the church pianist. She and J.D. were Gideons for many years and Colleen was active in the Gideon’s Auxiliary. 

Colleen is survived by her husband of 56 years, J.D.; one daughter, Renee’ Lewis and husband, Brian; two grandchildren, Breanna Hoehn and husband, Grant; Nathan Lewis and fiancé’, Maddy Pike; several cousins and a host of friends and former students. 

She is preceded in death by her parents and sisters, Wilma, and Wanda Gray. 

Funeral services will be held on March 15, 2022, at 2 pm at the Clark Funeral Home, Granby. Interment will follow in the Newtonia IOOF Cemetery and serving as pallbearers will be Nathan Lewis, Grant Hoehn, Brian Lewis, John Lewis, Eddie McAllister, and Nathan McAllister.

The family will receive friends at a time of visitation prior to the service from 12:30 until service time. Contributions in memory of Colleen may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, c/o Clark Funeral Home, PO Box 26, Granby, Missouri 64844. The family would like to thank the doctors, nurses, and support staff of Medicalodge and a special thank you to the aides for the loving care given to Colleen.