Juanita Proctor McCleary, who left her Southern hometown as a teen-ager but never lost the charm she took from the region, died Thursday at an assisted living facility in Salisbury of complications from Alzheimer's disease. She was 95.

Born in Columbia, S.C., Juanita Proctor never graduated from high school, running away at 16. She ended up in Baltimore where she worked as a secretary at what would become Legg Mason. There she met Standish McCleary Jr. He went on to become a prominent vice president of the company, and the two were married in the early 1930s.

Before Mr. McCleary's death in 2001, the couple had residences in Baltimore, Ocean City and Key Biscayne, Fla. In Florida, Mrs. McCleary was an amateur painter, who would show and sell her pieces at local art shows. She was an active member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Key Biscayne Garden Club and other social organizations. She enjoyed reading and attending church.

Services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City, 1301 Philadelphia Ave., Ocean City.

She is survived by five children, Ann McCleary Stewart of Sherwood Forest, Isabel McCleary Carter of Winston-Salem, N.C., Rose McCleary Alexander of Richmond, Va., Josephine "Joanna" McCleary Pitcher of Arlington, Va., and Standish McCleary III of Portland, Ore.; 17 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren. A daughter, Virginia McCleary Loring, died in 1963.