Loy Naomia Clifton Ripley

Loy Naomia Clifton Ripley October 10, 1929 — June 27, 2026 Loy Naomia Clifton Ripley, known to family and friends as Nonie, died on June 27, 2026 in Bloomington, Indiana at the age of 96 years, 8 months and 17 days. She was born on her maternal grandfather’s farm near Harperville, Mississippi, on October 10, 1929 to Mary Katie Jones Clifton and Homer Ernest Clifton. For a time, she and her parents lived with her paternal grandmother, her namesake Naomia B. Pike Clifton, on Noble Street in Anniston, Alabama, but it was in Harperville, north of Forest, Mississippi, where she spent most of her childhood, surrounded by her parents, her seven maternal aunts and uncles, and her many cousins. A week after her eighth birthday, her sister Betty was born. The center of life was the home of her maternal grandparents, Charley Quitman Jones and Roseanna Elizabeth Rushing J ones. She spoke often of the bountiful fruits and vegetables from her grandparents’ garden, orchard and farmlands. After the United States entered World War II, her parents moved to Mobile, Alabama, where her father built homes for U.S. naval oﬃcers, as the Navy expanded its presence in Mobile Bay. She lived with her parents and Betty, in Prichard, on the north side of Mobile, attended Plateau Baptist Church, and traveled daily through the city on public buses in order to attend the now historic Murphy High School where she graduated in 1947. She subsequently attended Mississippi Woman’s College (today William Carey University) in Hattiesburg, Mississippi where she learned to play the piano, studied English Language and Literature with a minor in Music, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1951. In March of that year she was selected by the Mississippi State Baptist Student Union to be one of three missionaries to Hawaii, not yet a state, in the summer of 1951. For the school year of 1951-52 she returned to Alabama where she taught at East Central Junior High for the Mobile Independent School District. During her years in Mobile and in Hawaii, her parents discovered a passion for deep-sea fishing in the Gulf, and Nonie developed a love of the beach. She then was awarded a scholarship to attend Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, where in 1954 she received a Master’s in Religious Education, the only degree attainable at that time for women, the Master’s of Divinity being reserved for men. She moved to Arkansas in 1954 to become the Baptist Student Union Director at Arkansas A&M College (today University of Arkansas at Monticello.) As a twenty-five-year-old unmarried woman, she was not allowed to move into the apartment provided for the BSU Director by the college; she subsequently found room and board with an elderly lady of Monticello who served as a chaperone for the next two years. At a Baptist student retreat at Ferncliﬀ near Little Rock, Arkansas she met Charles Oliver Ripley who was a volunteer sponsor of the BSU at Southern State College (today Southern Arkansas University) in Magnolia, Arkansas where he worked at the First National Bank. She and Charles fell in love, married on October 20, 1956 in Mobile, Alabama, and lived in Magnolia, Arkansas for the next ten years. In Magnolia she was a homemaker and mother, giving birth to their three children: Dawn Melissa in 1958, Robin Suzanne in 1960 and Charles Clifton in 1962. At Central Baptist Church, Nonie was a Sunday School teacher and Director of the Primary Choir. After moving to Jonesboro, Arkansas in 1966, she continued in the same roles, now for First Baptist Church. She was a member of the American Association of University Women and served as Parent Teacher Association President for the City of Jonesboro. During the 1972-73 school year she taught in Jonesboro for the Nettleton School District. The Jonesboro years were filled with parenting her elementary-school and junior-high-school-aged children. As in her childhood, she again enjoyed the many large family gatherings with Charles’ sisters and his many nieces and nephews who lived nearby.I n 1973, when she and Charles relocated to Houston, Texas where her sister Betty lived with her family, Nonie worked first in the oﬃce management of Wayne Duddleston Interest before taking a position in 1975 as an English teacher for the Houston Independent School District. Once again she was traveling daily, across an even larger city, this time in carpools with colleagues, to teach for four years at Thomas High School. From 1979 until 2000 she taught English for the Spring Branch Independent School District in Houston: first at Spring Branch High School, from which her children graduated, then later at Memorial High School and finally at Northbrook High School. Many of her colleagues from this period became life-long friends. Between 1976 and 1985 Nonie and Charles often spent weekends in Waco, Texas, while their three children were attending Baylor University. Their home in Houston was always open to their childrens’ friends who frequently and gladly joined them for weekend or summer visits. In the mid to late 1980s Nonie and Charles traveled regularly through Arkansas to Louisville, Kentucky and Bloomington, Indiana, where their daughters, Dawn and Robin, were doing graduate studies. And during the late 1980s and early 1990s Nonie and Charles made multiple trips to Europe, to visit their son, Charles, who was first studying and later working in Germany. Over the years, they traveled with him through Britain and much of Central Europe. From 1989 to 2001 Nonie participated regularly in the Multicultural Literature Studies program “Common Ground” at the University of Houston and in 1991 presented on Multicultural Literature in High School at the State and National Conference of Teachers of English. And from 1989 until the present day she was a member of the Theta Lambda Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma International, a professional society for women educators, having also served as an oﬃcer in her chapter. For the thirty years she lived in Houston, she was a member of South Main Baptist Church, and for many years she was an active participant in a Bible study group consisting of friends and fellow teachers. She was glad to be near her sister, Betty, and enjoyed the many family gatherings with her children and Betty’s children, Allison, Clif and Ray. With retirement drawing near, in 1998 Nonie and Charles purchased a farm near New Albany, Indiana, across the Ohio River from Louisville, Kentucky. While still living in Houston, they renovated the farmhouse until 2004 when they moved to join their daughter Dawn on the farm. They lived together with her there until Dawn’s death in 2007. Despite Dawn’s illness, these years were filled with countless outings in the beautiful Ohio River Valley and Louisville area, and visits to the farm by Dawn’s friends, by Robin, her husband Mark Benton, their children, David and Josiah, and by Charles and his partner Jürgen Wölfle. The time at the farm after Dawn’s death was defined by grief, and Nonie and Charles always gladly welcomed Robin and her family when they came for weekend visits or when son Charles came from Europe and stayed for several weeks at a time. These were mostly quiet days of sipping coﬀee on the porch and reflecting on the beauty of the place Dawn had so loved. In retirement Nonie now had time for quilting, partaking in various quilting circles, quilting workshops and weekends. She created beautiful and complex quilts for her grandchildren, her children and a few close friends. Despite living so far away from most friends, throughout the years she maintained strong friendships. These were especially important when, in January of 2014, her beloved husband, Charles, died very suddenly. They had been married for 57 years. Her strength and independence, her close ties to her children, friends and a few good neighbors helped her through the four years alone at the farm. In October of 2017 shortly before her 88th birthday, she bought the house next door to Robin’s in Bloomington, Indiana, and moved there in the summer of 2018. Just days after the move, she flew to Germany for a three-week visit, riding in her son’s car with the top down through the western part of the country. There would be two more such trips, in 2022 and 2024, the last made at the age of 94 to attend the wedding celebration of Charles and Jürgen. Her eight years in Bloomington were often dominated by health issues, but she recovered from two major operations in 2022 and 2025 with remarkable resilience. Despite these setbacks, she continued until the end of her life to plan future projects, work on her quilts, and write about her early days. She remained an avid reader of both fiction and non-fiction, following a wide range of authors from literature, history and politics. She followed the lives of her children with the same devotion and interest she had always had. With her smart phone she sent text messages and photographs to family and friends around the world, and often spent hours conversing on video calls. She reconnected with friends from school and college days, maintained old friendships and cultivated new ones. Her charm and humor continued to enthrall all and her youthfulness and acumen astounded many up to and through her last days. Nonie was a strong woman of faith, a true believer. She loved fervently and uncompromisingly. She was loved by many and will be missed by all who had the pleasure of being in her presence. A Memorial Service will be conducted to honor Nonie’s life on September 26, 2026 at 11:00AM at the University Baptist Church, 3740 East 3rd Street, Bloomington , Indiana 47401 followed by Internment in the White Oak Cemetery, 1200 West 7th Street, Bloomington, Indiana 47404. Allen Funeral Home and Crematory 4155 South Old State Road 37 have been entrusted with the arrangements and online condolences, photos and memories may be shared with family and friends at www.allencares.com

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Loy Naomia Clifton Ripley

October 10, 1929 - June 27, 2026