Janet "Penny" Kay (Edwards) McCloughan

Janet “Penny” Kay McCloughan, 70, passed away December 25, 2018 in Prineville. Our beloved Penny was born on December 21, 1947 to Bessie and Wilbur Edwards, youngest of her three late siblings: Don Edwards of Prineville, Bev Sikes of Bend and Katy Edgerly of Prineville. Hardly a dull moment in the household, with Penny and her siblings, or truly special and life long best friend, Lucy Quant-Woodward running around together. Penny was loved dearly and people always wanted her around, she had a beautiful heart.

There will be a Celebration of life, Saturday, 1:00 PM January 12th, 2019 at The Prineville Elks Lodge. With a casual potluck following after

    Penny spent most of her life with her husband Larry McCloughan who she married in 1967, just before he shipped off to serve in Vietnam. They raised their three rambunctious children once he finished serving; Cassie Harris of Prineville the late Calli McCloughan and Billy McCloughan were all the young couple could handle since the children in the neighborhood, although always welcome, were constantly over raising hell for Penny and Larry both.  If you were lucky to be especially loved by Penny, she’d have a neat little nickname that usually carried a little bad word or two that she’d call you.

    Their house was built on a two acre lot out on Lamonta Road, which was just enough room for Penny to keep busy growing all of her favorite vegetables and flowers while making sure Billy wasn’t breaking any bones. She always maintained a beautiful home, inside and out. She never missed a year going next door to the Puckett’s Nursery, where she’d buy her planters that made her so happy to hang on either side of her front door. And like a true busy body, it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for you to catch her rearranging her furniture at home if she wasn’t running around for her kids, grandkids or Larry. Anyone whose housework got too far away from them had Penny first person on their list to call, she could straighten up a house in “nothin’ flat”.

   In her later years Penny made just about every sporting event her grandkids participated in. There wasn’t a shadow of a doubt if she was there or not, because her voice was the loudest one cheering in the stands! She’d look forward to her monthly girls’ afternoons with Peggy Puckett, Annette Hilderbrand and of course, her best friend Lucy Woodward, where they’d take turns hosting card games and lunch at each of their houses. Penny loved to travel with Lucy, and was lucky enough to see Alaska, Canada, Belize, Hawaii and many more states in the western US.  Penny just loved to be outside in the sun to sit and “people watch” as she called it. She always said the ones who were quirky were always “a hell of a lot better than the phony” ones! She liked people who “were just who they were”.

      There were a few devastating and difficult times in Penny’s life, between the loss of her husband and sister months apart, overcoming an unexpected life threatening illness and the pain of burying two of her children.. and she kept going through all of them. She was truly the strongest woman we know. A trooper by definition. Besides her strength there was any way we should remember her, it’s to just remember her the way she was... A genuinely kind, down to earth and good hearted mother, grandmother and friend. Someone with a comforting and laid back light that she couldn’t help but shine wherever she went. A woman who had the courage to stick up for others and what was right.. And a person that told the truth- even when it might be difficult, but with warmth, grace and authenticity behind every word she spoke. An incredibly contagious laugh, and the ability to make people feel they were enough just as they were is something a lot of us will be hard-pressed to find, but lucky enough to have experienced through our beautiful friend, Penny McCloughan.

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