Henry Evans Clay Johnson ’36

Clay died Apr. 24, 2001, at his Lookout Mountain, Tenn., home. He was 89. A graduate of Hotchkiss, he joined Cap and Gown. He left Princeton after his sophomore year.

During WWII he served in Europe as a Navy lieutenant commander. Clay spent his career with Interstate Life and Accident Insurance Co. He became president in 1946, succeeding his father, and stepped down in 1972. Interstate merged with Gulf United Corp. in 1980, and Clay retired in 1984 as a director and chair of the executive committee. He was president of the Hamilton County Memorial Hospital Assn. from 1946-84. The cancer center there bears his name.

He was married to Betty Mead Smartt, who died in 1980. He is survived by his wife, Gene Beasley Johnson, daughters Barbara Prickett, Elizabeth J. Patton, a son, H. Clay Jr., seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Clay lived a most productive life.

The Class of 1936