Lorene Lillian Messer Young

1929 - 2012

Marina

Lorene Lillian

Messer Young

Lorene Lillian Messer Young, 83, of Marina, beloved wife, cherished mother and adored grandmother, went to be with the Lord on Wednesday, October 17, 2012.

She entered the world on September 10, 1929 in Oklahoma, less than two months before the country's economy collapsed. The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl of the early 1930s would drastically impact her family. Her parents, Clarence and Lillian Messer, packed up 7-year-old Lorene and her seven siblings into a truck and made the "Grapes of Wrath" journey from Oklahoma to Clovis. Clarence, Lillian and the older children went to work picking grapes and other fruit in California's Central Valley to support the family. Lorene lived in Clovis until her junior year in high school when lightening struck their farmhouse and it burned. Her parents sent many of the children to other relatives to live while the house was being rebuilt. Lorene joined her aunt and uncle in Monterey where she attended Monterey High School for her senior year. She graduated in 1947 at 16 years old.

Lorene moved to Houston to live with an aunt and uncle and work at Shell Chemical in order to save money for college. She returned to Monterey a year later and began studying office management and business at Hartnell College in Salinas. She was actively involved in her church, First Baptist in New Monterey. It was there she would meet the love of her life, Leon Young. Mutual friends, Kenny and Ruth Hastey, arranged for the two of them to attend a Monterey High School football game in September 1948, and two months later they were engaged. They married on Jan. 2, 1949.

A year later they welcomed their first son, Mark. Phillip followed three years later, with Paul arriving three years after that, and daughter Mari joining the family three years after Paul. Lorene dedicated herself to her husband and children as a full-time homemaker. When she wasn't nurturing her children, she was nurturing the Christian faith of others. Lorene and Leon became involved in the Navigators ministry and opened their home to servicemen for dinner every Sunday and often on holidays. She also served as a Sunday School teacher and Deaconess at her church.

Over the years, they lived in Seaside, Pacific Grove and Del Rey Oaks before moving to Oregon in 1971 to work in a senior care facility. They stayed in the Northwest for 12 years before returning to California. She and Leon purchased a large residence in Santa Rosa and started their own senior residential care home. Lorene dedicated her life to caring for the elderly after her children were raised. They sold the home in 2003 and returned home to Monterey where she lived until she passed away.

Lorene was preceded in death by her parents; her sisters, Edna, and Marita; and her brothers, Clifford, Earl, Jacky and Lavonne. She is survived by her husband of 63 years, Leon Young of Marina; sons, Mark (Katie) of Garfield, WA., Phillip (Gina) of Castroville, and Paul (Jeannie) of Marina; daughter, Mari of Long Beach; sisters, Billie, Wanda, Peggy, and Anne; brothers, Wayne and Steve; eight grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

Services are Friday, October 26, 2012 at 1 p.m., at Shoreline Community Church, 2500 Garden Road, Monterey. A reception will follow at the church.

In lieu of flowers, please honor Lorene with a donation to The Navigators, P.O. Box 6000, Colorado Springs, CO, 80934 or to Shoreline Community Church, 2500 Garden Road, Monterey, CA, 93940.