1941-2025
Captain Bonnie Leadford McClure, USN (Ret.) passed away peacefully at her home in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, on May 2, 2025. She was 84 years old.
Born on the 27th of February, 1941, in Louisville, Kentucky, Bonnie was the eldest child and only daughter of William R. Harding and Margaret Rebecca Ditto Harding. Bonnie completed high school, joined the Navy Nurse Candidate program and earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing in Nashville, Tennessee. After graduation from Vanderbilt University in 1963, Bonnie proceeded to the Officer Indoctrination School at Newport, Rhode Island and began her storied, thirty-year naval career at Naval Hospital, Pensacola, Florida.
Bonnie began her career in the United States Navy as a way to pursue per passion for nursing. After her required four years, she decided she liked the structure of the Navy and continued to serve her country as a registered nurse, retiring as a Captain after three decades as a Navy Officer. Outside of her professional life, Bonnie was an avid reader, daffodil lover, cherished sister, aunt, mother-in-law, stepmother, grandmother, great-grandmother and beloved friend.
Survivors include her husband, Gary Lee McClure; brothers, Steve D. Harding and Stuart R. Harding; stepdaughter-in law, Jonna L. Leadford; stepchildren, Leianne K. McGinnis (Mark) of Franklin, TN, Lucinda M. Lawson of Redfield, G. Michael McClure (Cara) of Dayton, OH and Dr. Timothy P. McClure (Alice) of Little Rock; numerous nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and a few great-grandchildren as well as her beloved Schnauzers, Bella and Stormy, her loving cats, Kallie and Ginger, and the beautiful daffodils that bloom annually at her Pine Bluff home, Dunvegan, named after the 800 year old MacLeod clan castle located in The Isle of Skye, Scotland, United Kingdom.
Along with her parents, Bonnie was preceded in death by her first husband, Commander William M. Leadford; Medical Services Corp, USN, her brother, The Reverend Stanley L. Harding, stepdaughter Teresa Alice Leadford Summy, and stepson William Malcolm Leadford II.
Visitation will be on Monday, May 5, 2025, from 4:00-6:00 p.m. at Ralph Robinson and Son Funeral Directors. A celebration of Bonnie’s life will be held at Trinity Lutheran Church, 4200 Old Warren Road, Pine Bluff, Arkansas at 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, May 6, 2025, with Reverend Stewart Marshall officiating.
She will be buried beside her first husband at 1:00 p.m., Friday, May 9, 2025 at The New Bethel Baptist Church Cemetery in Middleton, Tennessee.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Trinity Lutheran Church, 4200 Old Warren Road, Pine Bluff, Arkansas 71603.
