LaDoska Jane McClenny

LaDoska Jane Donahue Scribner McClenny died on July 3, 2025 at the age of 94. She was preceded in death by her first husband Herbert L. Scribner (married 1948-1966), second husband Donald McClenny (married 1983-2002), her parents Lynn Donahue and Miller Donahue of Des Arc, Arkansas, her older sister Imogene Griffin Sisna, niece Alicia Jane Wyss, and older brother John (Buddy) Donahue. She is survived by her brother Gary Lynn Donahue of Bebe, Arkansas and twin daughters Denise Scribner of Wichita, KS and Deann Scribner Fleming of San Antonio, TX.

Growing up in rural Arkansas was full of challenges as money and jobs were scarce. The Donahue family did anything to get by from sharecropping, moving to Louisiana for Janie's father to work at a saw mill, then traveling to Mississippi for work at the shipyards before returning to Des Arc. The family harvested fish from the White River for the town's market and river oysters to make buttons at the local button factory. They also took in laundry, worked in the local cafe and her father traveled to work at the California shipyards, sending money back home to the family.

Janie would walk along the railroad track from the family's sharecropping farm a mile outside of town to attend school. Much later the family moved into town and life became a little easier. Money was always tight and her brother John sent $50 home from his CCC job to pay for Janie's school books. She completed high school in a three year accelerated program to graduate high school at the age of 16.

After her marriage to Herbert in 1948, they traveled to Ohio and Illinois looking for work. Janie and Herb came to Kansas in 1950 with Herb working as a mechanical engineer at The Boeing Company. Janie began her career with Boeing in 1951. She gave birth to twin daughters Deann and Denise in 1954, returning immediately after maternity leave to work in electrical/electronics. After 24 years with Boeing she was promoted to First Line Supervisor in the Metal Bond area then sent to IPB#1 as Electrical Supervisor.

In 1984 she was sent to lead a crew on the Boeing flight line to work electrical modifications on Piedmont Airline planes and was awarded Supervisor of the Year. Janie broke the "glass ceiling" in management as one of the first women to become a Second Level Supervisor for The Boeing Company. She developed a reputation through her leadership skills of meeting and exceeding quality standards of work while completing the job by or prior to deadlines.

Janie led crews as Second Level Manager working on the Air Force One planes, the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) for NASA that ultimately went to the moon, Bell Helicopters, and electrical wiring for Saudi Arabian airplanes to name a few. She worked for The Boeing Company until retirement in 1992 after 41 years of service. With her second husband Donald, they celebrated retirement by traveling the world. In 2000 they purchased the 1912 National Register of Historic Places home locally as the Bethel House to settle down in Des Arc. However after Donald's death in 2022, Janie sold the historic home and returned to Wichita, KS becoming active with the Retiree Clubs.

Janie enjoyed doing yard work, traveling to see her twin daughters and going on trips with them to see several National Parks, Walt Disney World and cruises on the Disney Cruise Line. During the last three years of her life she dealt with several health issues beating melanoma cancer twice and congestive heart failure prior to entering hospice care in 2025.

No services or memorials will be conducted. Donations in her memory may be sent directly to the Kansas Humane Society, 3313 North Hillside, Wichita, KS 67219. Her remains will be interred at the family plot located at Hazen Cemetery, Arkansas.