Eudena Lorraine Young

Eudena Lorraine Young, 101, passed away on December 20, 2022, in Pocatello, Idaho.

Lorraine was born in Grover (Star Valley), Wyoming, to Marion Peter Anderson and Louisa Mikesell. She grew up on land homesteaded by her family, the tenth of eleven children. Lorraine completed high school in a small schoolhouse for all grades and rode a school wagon.

In 1939 at the age of 18, Lorraine married Rexford Richard Young. They met at a dance in Afton, Wyoming. At first, the young couple spent summers on Rex's family homestead on the Greys River and winters in Afton working at the local airplane factory. Rex and Lorraine had eleven children. The first five kids spent part of their childhood on the Greys River property, where the family ran a small general store and gas station serving loggers, miners, and cowboys on the range. Rex and Lorraine worked in the shipyards in Vancouver, WA, during WWII. Rex also served at an AFB in Texas.

Afterward, the couple returned to Afton to be with their family. The next chapter led them to Idaho Falls, Idaho, where they stayed for seventeen years. The Youngs moved back to Afton in 1974, got all the children through high school, and retired. Lorraine always had a house full of kids; her grandchildren, her children, and their friends that she "adopted" as her own.

Lorraine and Rex devoted the first few summers in retirement to building a cabin on the Greys River property. The couple spent winters traveling to kids in warm weather climates and as snowbirds in Arizona. After Rex's passing in 1986, Lorraine continued to winter in Arizona until she turned 90. Then, she moved back to the Idaho Falls area full-time, where many of her children and grandchildren remain. She moved to Pocatello with her youngest daughter and son-in-law in 2014. Lorraine stayed at Quail Ridge Assisted Living from March 2018 until her passing.

Lorraine is preceded in death by her parents and ten siblings, her husband, Rex; her two daughters, Gayle Lancaster and Carolyn Pett, her daughter-in-law Diane Young, her son-in-law Terry Wonacott; two grandsons, Bobby Davis and Scott Wonacott and four granddaughters Helen Beachboard, Lori Gregorio, Santana Young, and Rexaine Young.

Lorraine is survived by her children; Rex Young of Ririe, Idaho; Rick (Sharyn) Young of Morro Bay, California; Kathy Wonacott of Springtown, Texas, Jeanne (Russell) Smith of Afton, Wyoming; Bette (Greg) Schlenker of Gillette Wyoming, Patti (John) Swanlund of Ontario California, Debbie (LeRoy) Miller of Centralia Washington, Marilyn (Gary) Warren of Soda Springs Idaho, Penni (Ed) Groote of Pocatello Idaho and many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren.

Lorraine will be very much missed by all who love her. Formal services will be held at a later date.

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