Anna Lemmon Obituary

Durango resident Anna Lucille Youngblood Kleckner Lemmon died Monday, March 26, 2012, at her home. She was 92.

Known as Lucille, she was the fifth of six children born to James William and Myrtie Sloan Youngblood. She was born June 22, 1919, in Utleyville in southeastern Colorado. She was a graduate of Pagosa Springs High School.

On Dec. 24, 1936, she married George Walter Kleckner in Pagosa Springs, and they had three sons. Mr. Kleckner was a Hinsdale County commissioner, and they spent the World War II years running the family ranch in the Upper Piedra River area. Mr. Kleckner was killed in a plane crash in Lake City in 1962.

Mrs. Lemmon was very involved in Pagosa Springs, her family said. Besides working at the Pagosa Springs schools and driving the school bus on the Upper Piedra route, she was a charter member of the Archuleta County CowBelles and worked to establish the San Juan Historical Society and History Museum. She was a member of Beta Sigma Phi, Sarah Rebekah Lodge No. 20 and Order of the Eastern Star in both Pagosa Springs and Durango.

She was the education secretary for the Job Corps, the office manager of Citizens Utilities Gas Co. and a member of First United Methodist Church.

In 1975, Mrs. Lemmon moved to Durango, where she was the quality control manager of the Four Corners Sheltered Workshop.

On June 20, 1977, she married C. Arthur Lemmon in Durango.

They lived in Durango and Yuma, Ariz., over the next three decades. Mrs. Lemmon was a volunteer for Hospice of Yuma and was a founding member of the Mountain Shadows Artist Guild in Yuma.

"Lucille loved the flowers in her yard, her many friends and especially her family," her family said.

Mrs. Lemmon was preceded in death by her husband of 25 years, George Walter Kleckner.

She is survived by her husband of 34 years, Art Lemmon, of Durango; sons Dennis Kleckner of Pagosa Springs, Roger Kleckner of Cuba, N.M., and Scott Kleckner of Yonkers, N.Y.; sister Goldie Humes of San Diego; six grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and numerous nephews and nieces.

A funeral will be held at 10 a.m. today, March 30, 2012, at Hood Mortuary Chapel, 1261 East Third Ave.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Hospice of Mercy, 1 Mercado St., Suite 270, Durango, CO 81301.