Loretta Young Clements

Loretta Young Clements, beloved wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend passed away shortly after midnight on January 1, 2025, at Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center in Baton Rouge. She was born on November 9, 1942, at the old Our Lady of the Lake Hospital north of the State Capital building in Baton Rouge and was 82. She was a lifelong native of Gonzales, La and attended her twelve years of grammar and high school education in the same building on Burnside Ave. there. She has maintained an ongoing friendship through the years with her fellow 1960 GHS 'Bulldog' high school graduates who, to this day, maintain those friendships by meeting once a month for food and fellowship. Soon after her graduation from Gonzales High School in May of 1960, Loretta joined the United States Airforce and honorably served her two years of active duty as a Communication Specialist at the Strategic Air Command (SAC) base in Barksdale, La. On her return to Gonzales, she furthered her education at the Baton Rouge Vocational/Technical School and graduated as a Licensed Practical Nurse. Her nursing career spanned three decades at East Ascension Hospital in Gonzales, Ochsner Clinic on O'Neil and Bluebonnet in Baton Rouge, and various Home Health agencies near the end of her work as a nurse. Loretta was a beautiful woman with an outgoing personality and infectious smile and laugh. She was a devout Catholic Christian who assisted admirably in various ministries at St. Mark Catholic Church in Gonzales and Mary Mother of God Church in Harrison, Arkansas. She was a beloved mother of her three sons, two of which she had to return to God due to their tragic deaths in accidents fourteen years apart. She dearly loved her surviving son, Christopher Neil Clements, her daughter-in-law, Shnoa Ayo Clements, and her eight beautiful grandchildren. She was an excellent cook, gathering thousands of recipes over the years, and contributed recipes to cookbooks with women at her St. Mark Church and women's clubs at her husband's work assignments in Houston, Texas and balikpapan, Indonesia. She was a very adept crafter and loved doing macrame, counted-cross-stitch, ceramics, and many others. She and her husband were blessed to travel to many countries in the world in association with his overseas work and pilgrimages with St. Mark Church to the Holy Land in Israel, Guadalupe in Mexico City, and Ireland. Loretta was preceded in death by her two sons, Brent Alan Clements and Dean Anthony Clements, her parents Hilbert Paul Young and Melba Hoover Young, a brother, Vernon "Sluggo" Joseph Young, her paternal grandparents Rudy and Elia Young, maternal grandparents, Elmore and Lydia Hoover and numerous aunts and uncles. She is survived by her husband of 53 years, Ansley K. "A.K." Clements Jr.; son, Christopher Neil Clements and wife Shnoa Ayo Clements; 8 grandchildren, Hudson Paul, Rogue Elizabeth, Maverick Titus, Job Tucker, Oren Joseph, Bearon Anthony, Bodhi James, and Shilo Evan Clements; brother, Robert Paul Young, and wife Gay Lynn Harris Young; sisters, Patty Young Sheets and husband Carl Sheets, and Sandy Young King and husband Lionel King, and sister-in-law, Alvis Smithhart Young, and numerous nieces and nephews. Visitation will be on Sunday, January 5, 2025, from 5 pm till 8 pm at Ourso Funeral Home 13533 Airline Hwy Gonzales, La 70737. Visitation will resume on Monday, January 6, 2025 at St. Mark Catholic Church 42021 LA-621, Gonzales, La at 9 am with Mass of Christian Burial at 11 am. She will be laid to rest at Hope Haven Cemetery, 604 N. Hwy 30, Gonzales, La .