La Nelle Young

La Nelle Siegel Young was born in 1924, in Little Rock, Arkansas, to Harry and Zelma Uhrich Siegel. She graduated from Little Rock High School early as the youngest girl graduate in a class of 400. At Little Rock Junior College and Arkansas State Teachers College she majored in Romance Languages receiving her B.S.E. degree. She went on to complete her master’s degree in Spanish at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and continued her university studies for 2 years in Mexico City.

Returning to the U.S. she joined the staff at Rich Township High School in Park Forest, Illinois for five years, teaching both Spanish and French. In 1958 she married Ross Young, who became an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Missouri in Columbia, and she lived there until 2025.

After her son, Randall Young, and daughter, Sharissa Young, were in school, she taught Spanish for 9 years in the University, several years in Stephens College, Moberly Area Community College, Central Methodist University, and several area high schools in Harrisburg and Cairo. Her students composed and staged award-winning skits, songs, dances, costumes, poetry, and artwork every year. In 1985, she taught Spanish and French at St. Louis suburban Northwest and Cedar Hill High Schools then transferred to Parkway West High School in1988 until retirement.

Over the following decades La Nelle taught English to executives in Mexico’s Pemex oil company, while also traveling extensively. She visited Machu Picchu of the Inca civilization in Peru, the ancient Mayan cities of Tikal, Chichén Itzá, and Palenque in Mexico, went on cruises in the Carribean, and visited Madrid and Barcelona in Spain, and Casablanca, Morocco.

For many years, La Nelle served her church as the Christian Science Reading Room librarian and music chairperson, until 2020 when COVID-19 changed all of our lives forever. In 2025 at age 101, she moved to the Close to Paradise assisted living residential home in Springfield, Missouri, to be closer to her daughter and her family.

She is survived by her two children, Randy and Sharissa with her family, as well as her four nieces and nephews, John, Don, Susan, and Carol with their families, and her cousins, Kim, Vicki and Howell and their families. She was preceded in death by her parents, and her younger sister, Josephine Siegel.

Visitation will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, July 13, 2026 at Memorial Funeral Home, 1217 Business Loop 70 W, Columbia, MO 65202. Funeral services will follow at 1:00 p.m. at the funeral home. Interment will be held at Memorial Park Cemetery, 1217 Business Loop 70 W, Columbia, MO 65202.

Memorials may be made to First Church of Christ, Scientist, 800 West Broadway, Columbia, 65203, or to the Columbia Area Senior Center, 1121 Bus. Loop 70 East, Columbia, 65201.