The Reverend Susan Martindale Clay Disharoon

The Reverend Susan Martindale Clay Disharoon, 90, of Port Gibson, Mississippi, died peacefully in her sleep on Sunday, July 6, 2025. Born on January 3, 1935, to Col. Robert Pepper Clay and Mary Martha Martindale Clay in Champaign, IL, she was the second of 3 children. 

The daughter of a career Army officer, Susan spent her childhood moving frequently with her family, who made their home in multiple states and abroad. At the onset of World War II, she and her siblings fled Germany with their mother, returning to the United States, where Susan received her high school diploma from All Saints Episcopal School in Vicksburg. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in French from Sweet Briar College and a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Tennessee at Memphis. While employed as a social worker with the State of Mississippi, she met and later married the love of her life, Ben Disharoon. They settled in Port Gibson and were blessed with four beloved daughters. 

Susan was a devoted member of St. James Episcopal Church, where she taught Sunday School, sang in the choir, and served on the Altar Guild and as a Lay Eucharistic Minister. She later became active in the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi, the Cursillo Movement, the Port Gibson Community Choir, and Mission Mississippi, through which she gained many treasured friendships. When young mothers approached her parish priest about an urgent need for day care for pre-school age children, Susan launched and directed the St. James Day Care Center. She was ordained to the Episcopal Deaconate in 2003 and served faithfully in that ministry for many years. Her favorite ministry, though, was being Gran to her 13 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Susan was preceded in death by her father, Col. Robert Pepper Clay; mother, Mary Martha Clay; sister, Lucy Boyajian; brother Robert Clay, Jr.; husband, Ben Disharoon; and daughter, Mary Kline. Left to cherish her memory are daughters Nancy Loome (Jim), Beth McDowell (Mark), and Jill Geertsema (Cameron); grandchildren Mary Clay Kline, Will McDowell (Kendall), Susie Cowan (Chandler), Jenny Diaz (Abel), Ben McDowell (Sydney), Jay Kline, Rob McDowell, Kate McDowell, Jack Loome, Julia Geertsema, Caroline Geertsema, Anna Geertsema, and Liza Geertsema; great-grandchildren Wallace McDowell and Clay Cowan; brother-in-law Ned Boyajian; and a host of nieces and nephews who were very dear to her.

A visitation will be held in the Parish Hall of St. James Episcopal Church, Port Gibson, at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 9, 2025, followed by a celebration of her life in the church sanctuary at 2:00. Interment will be in Wintergreen Cemetery immediately following the service. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Stewpot Community Services or St. James Episcopal Church, Port Gibson.

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