Inez J. (Johnson) McGrath

Inez J. McGrath, 92, of Cambridge passed away on Saturday, October 27, 2018 at University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, VA. She was born in Bonny Blue, VA on December 3, 1925 and was a daughter of the late James Walter Johnson and Myrtle Eugenia Cole Johnson.

Mrs. McGrath graduated from Jackson Memorial High School class of 1944 and continued her schooling and attended University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins for post graduate. She graduated from Montreat College class of 1948. Mrs. McGrath taught school for 20 years, primarily First Grade in Baltimore County until she was in an automobile accident in 1968.  She was one of the first to demonstrate the Head Start program in the country. She had unlimited patience and love for children, Her greatest joy in life other than her family, was serving her God, Jehovah. She became one of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1961 and loved studying the Bible and sharing the message with others right up to her passing. On April 7, 1951, she married Nelson E. McGrath, Jr., who passed away on September 10, 2004.

She is survived by her daughter Kathleen Strakey and husband George of Waynesboro, VA, grandson Jonathan Strakey of Waynesboro, VA, sister Irene Turpen of Staunton, VA, and numerous nieces and nephews. Besides her parents and her husband, Mrs. McGrath is preceded in death by two sisters and two brothers Ellen Windsor, Ann Zulauf, Jimmie Johnson and R.P. Johnson.

A private burial will be at the Maryland Eastern Shore Veterans Cemetery, where she will be laid to rest next to her husband of 53 years Nelson McGrath, Jr. A memorial service will be held at Waynesboro Kingdom Hall Jehovah’s Witnesses, 427 Cattle Scales Road, Waynesboro, VA on Saturday, November 10, 2018 at 2 pm. with Jay Wayland officiating.  Arrangements are in the care of the Thomas Funeral Home, P.A. in Cambridge, MD.