- Date Of Birth: March 28, 1927
- Date Of Death: June 29, 2022
- State: New Mexico
Clara Jo “Jody” McSherry, 95, lived a beautifully full and interesting life – all of it in Luna County, New Mexico. Content with the blessings of farm life, a house full of kids, and comfortable in her Catholic faith, she was interested in cultures and loved exploring and understanding the world around her. Jody said goodbye to the love of her life, G.X. McSherry, in 2013 after 68 years of marriage. Together with him, she instilled virtues of hard work, curiosity about life, social responsibility, and the value of an education in all her children. Without pretension, she was fastidious about etiquette and being well-spoken and enjoyed communicating in other languages as much as possible.
Born Clara Josephine Remondini to Italian immigrants from Tyrol, Giuseppe and Maria Asunta Remondini, she was the youngest of their seven children. As a child, Jody was happiest on her horse, Chico, exploring the dunes and mesquite thickets surrounding her parents’ farm east of Deming. She learned how to shoot a rifle, skin a rabbit, butcher a beef, make amazing New Mexico style food, as well as maintain some Italian traditions in her home. She loved music, and dancing always brought a smile to her face. She taught all of children to waltz and made sure that each of them had the chance to study some sort of musical instrument.
She graduated from Deming High School in 1944 in the height of World War II. She went to college at New Mexico A&M (now New Mexico State University) and lived in Rhodes Hall with a roommate who would remain her lifelong friend. Her roommate’s parents owned a drug store in Minneapolis and would send care packages to the girls that included difficult-to-find items because of the war. Back home in Deming, Jody and her sisters provided dance partners for the airmen in training at the air base on the east side of town. One of the airmen she met went on to become an accomplished sculptor and used Jody’s likeness in one of his statues that stands today.
Jody and G.X. married in the winter of 1945 and took over the farming and ranching operations from her parents. She lived the entirety of her life in the adobe-walled home where she was born, adding a room here and there to accommodate her five sons and two daughters. She did not return to college immediately after marriage but did re-enroll in NMSU 35 years later – at the same time that her two youngest children were also attending the university – to work on her photojournalism degree. She put her studies to work at the Deming Headlight and enjoyed her professional career after all her children left home.
Jody actively supported her church and her community. A long-serving member of the Holy Family Church Altar Society, she helped raise funds for the ‘new’ church and community center. She invested over thirty years in preparing her seven children to participate in the Southwestern, Southern and State fairs, as well as taking them to countless 4H and FFA judging competitions. She was the first woman elected to the Deming Public Schools Board of Education. Jody loved history, art, and culture, especially that associated with the desert southwest. She was active in the Deming Arts Council, helped support the local artists, and encouraged Demingites to do the same. Other community activities included serving on the Deming Luna Mimbres Museum board, a member of the Luna County Silver Spikes, the BorderBelles Cowbelles, Golden Gossip group, and early in her married life, Rotary Anns.
Jody loved to travel. After her children were raised, she visited all the countries in Europe, the Soviet Union, the Arctic Circle, and China. She saw the gorillas in Rwanda and participated in a photo safari where she captured images of giraffes, lions, and elephants. She also visited the holy site in Medjugorje.
Jody lived a contented life and had few, if any, regrets. She leaves us with wonderful memories of a mother, grandmother and great grandmother who was quick with a smile, a wry comment here and there, always interested in what happened in the world that day, ready to have a good chat. She leaves behind seven children: Paul, Patricia, Michael, Marcia, David, Keven, and Rod plus seventeen grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.
She would be happy to know that future generations will love living in Luna County, admiring the Florida Mountains, experiencing the history of New Mexico, and enjoying a plate of red enchiladas and a glass of tempranillo from the grapes grown in the same soil that provided a livelihood to her and her family.
