Cleo was born on August 20, 1929, at her parents’ home in Crane Hill, Alabama, the eighth of ten children of Ulysses S. Lott and Effie Dale Milligan Lott. She was a pretty girl who, like most of her family, was pleasant and quick to laugh. In the Fall of 1946, during her senior year at Cold Springs High School, she attracted the attention of B.F. “Buddy” McLeroy, who had returned to school that year after serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Cleo and Buddy married on June 7, 1947, a few weeks after graduating high school. Their lifelong love affair over the next 68 years was an inspiration to many.
Cleo was a devoted wife to Buddy and loving mother to their only child, Ronald Keith McLeroy, and was an absolutely beloved grandmother and great-grandmother by those who called her Mama Mc. She worked as Cullman High School’s secretary and bookkeeper for 26 years and greeted everyone with a smile. She often bought lunches for students who did not have lunch money and became a confidant and advisor to many girls who worked as office aides. She was a member of Cullman First Baptist Church for more than 60 years.
Cleo reluctantly entered two pageants during her lifetime. She was chosen as a Strawberry Princess in 1947, and 70 years later, she was selected as Ms. Woodland Village and a top ten finalist in the Ms. Alabama Nursing Home Pageant.
She traveled all over the United States with her family but especially loved their annual visits to the Great Smoky Mountains. She enjoyed watching The Andy Griffith Show and reading John Grisham novels and frequently maintained in later years that her favorite activity was napping.
Cleo was preceded in death by her parents; her husband Buddy; her son Ronny; five brothers, Cecil, Alton, Charlie, Willie, and Donald; three sisters, Venita Tucker, Mildred Abbott, and Shirley Haymon; and her three best friends, Pat Boyd, Dorothy Sandlin, and Maryanne Guest. She is survived by her grandson, Todd McLeroy, and his wife Kathryn; her granddaughter, Dana Schoenbachler, and her husband Matt; her great-grandchildren, Meghan McLeroy, Adam Schoenbachler, Ben Schoenbachler and his wife Audrey, Molly McLeroy, Sarah Beth Schoenbachler, and Myles McLeroy; her brother, Jimmy Lott; her sister-in-law, Elene Lott; her brother-in-law, Ray Haymon; and a host of nieces and nephews.
Cleo’s family gives thanks to the staff of Woodland Village Rehabilitation and Health Care Center for their care and to Nellie Berry and Ralph Brooks for their friendship in recent years.
Please visit mossservicefh.com to leave condolences for the family.
Moss Service Funeral Home Directing.
