Mary Jo Toso

An angelic voice joined the heavenly choir when Mary Joanne Cleaver Toso awoke in the presence of The Lord after dozing off in her hospice room at Pilgrim Manor in Bossier City, LA in the early hours of Saturday, May 25, 2024. While the entire Toso and Cleaver family will miss her beyond words, all are relieved to know that Mary Jo is released from her multi-year, courageous battle with a dual diagnosis of Diffuse Systemic Scleroderma and Stage Four Metastatic Cancer.

The fourth of five siblings, Mary Jo was born in 1961 to Edgar Cleaver MD and Jean Cleaver RN in Omaha. While growing up, her family moved to Iowa, Colorado, Texas, and Kansas before she graduated from high school. On long summer road trips to the family cabin in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Jean quickly learned that she could keep her brood from quarreling if she encouraged them to sing in the car. With further mentoring from Grandpa Scholz, the five learned to sing in harmony and were soon performing at churches and community events.

When Mary Jo became a teenager, her musical talent was increasingly apparent as she sang in school and church choirs, ensembles, and vocal competitions. Also a student of the piano, Mary Jo began composing and performing many original songs inspired by her deep Christian faith. She decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree in music and graduated from Belmont College in Nashville.

While living in Nashville, Mary Jo met and married Jerome Toso at Belmont Church. The newlyweds soon moved to Chadron, NE to care for Mary Jo’s grandparents while Jerome attended college classes and Mary Jo single-handedly taught several grades simultaneously at a one-room schoolhouse in an even smaller town nearby.

In the years to come, Mary Jo and Jerome’s family lived in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, Michigan, and finally settled in Louisiana. Through the years, she continued to enjoy singing in church choirs, performing solo, tutoring students, studying the Bible with dear friends, and caring for the elderly and infirm in their homes.

Mary Jo is preceded in flight to heaven by her father Edgar M Cleaver and niece Joy Amini. She is survived by her mother Jean Cleaver, husband Jerome Toso, and children Melody (Braden) Reimche, Keith Toso, and Carissa Toso. She is also survived by her four siblings—Lori (Martin) Broermann, Janet Rhodes, Victor (Damia) Cleaver, Ed (Colleen Johnson) Cleaver—and their many children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

A celebration of Mary Jo’s life will be held at Eastwood Baptist Church in Haughton, LA at 1 PM on Friday, June 7. A graveside service at Memorial Park Cemetery in Tulsa, OK will follow on Monday, June 10 at 11 AM.

The Toso and Cleaver families encourage memorial donations to be directed to the Scleroderma Research Foundation, https://support.srfcure.org/fundraiser/5577932

Scleroderma is an autoimmune disease that initially causes inflammation and thickening in the skin. Systemic Scleroderma is more serious and can damage blood vessels and internal organs such as the heart, lungs, and kidneys. It also elevates risk of cancer. There is no cure for scleroderma. The goal of treatment is to relieve symptoms and stop disease progression. Because of the rarity of scleroderma, research funding is very limited. Your memorial gift would be greatly appreciated and will make a big difference for people like Mary Jo!