Cecil Leonard St. Clair

Cecil Leonard St. Clair lost his battle with pancreatic cancer on May 31, 2023. He was born in Pemberton, West Virginia, on March 3, 1947, the first child of Cecil McKinley St. Clair, and Gladys Gay Childers St. Clair. He left West Virginia in 1964, joining the United States Army. Cecil always joked that he took his senior trip to Vietnam. After leaving the Army, Cecil traveled to Chicago, getting a job at Western Electric Corporation’s Hawthorne Works. A self proclaimed slightly better than average electrician, Cecil completed an electrical apprenticeship at Western Electric. He then moved to Langdon, North Dakota to work at the Safeguard anti-ballistic missile program facility there.

In 1976, Cecil moved his family to Louisiana, after taking a job with Union Carbide in their construction division. He worked at the Taft Plant as an electrical inspector. Cecil then worked as an electrician at the Star Plant, and then an electrical specialist, continuing as an electrical specialist after Dow Chemical and Union Carbide merged in 2001.

It was at the Star Plant that Cecil met the love of his life, his wife Anne Marie. Cecil and Anne Marie were blessed with more than thirty-five years of adventures together. They were fortunate to travel extensively, and many of their trips involved running and race walking. Cecil completed marathons in ten states and ran road races in ten more. One of Cecil’s proudest accomplishments was qualifying for the Boston Marathon in 1988, with a time of 3:07:52, before they relaxed the qualifying standards, as Cecil liked to say.

They were also lucky to travel to fourteen different countries in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Two trips were especially precious to Cecil. A trip to his Uncle Wayne’s grave at the American Cemetery in Normandy, where Wayne died as part of the D-Day invasion, and a trip to Roslyn Chapel in Scotland, the St. Clair ancestral home.

Cecil loved running (later racewalking) and antique automobiles, especially Baby Birds, 1955-1957 Ford Thunderbirds. Cruisin’ the Coast was an annual adventure. He loved jokes and humor, and had a repertoire of stories that could entertain for days. His 460 game Wordle streak came to an end on May 30, with a 98% success rate.

But mostly, Cecil loved life. Whether it was a grand adventure like a trip to Scotland, or a smaller adventure like a walk on the Lake Pontchartrain lakefront, Cecil had a gift for making everything more fun and interesting.

Cecil was preceded in death by his father, Cecil McKinley St. Clair, his mother, Gladys Gay Childers St. Clair, his brother Mark St. Clair, and sisters-in-law Nancy St. Clair and Jennifer St. Clair. He is survived by his wife Anne Marie, brother Bill St. Clair (Diane), brother David St. Clair, brother Stephen St. Clair, sister Sheila Milam, son Lenny St. Clair (Kim) and daughter Melanie Meilleur (Sid), grandchildren Brittney and Ryan St. Clair, and a host of nieces, nephews, grand nieces, grand nephews and friends.

The family would like to thank Dr. Suma Satti and all the staff at the Gayle and Tom Benson Cancer center for the outstanding care given to Cecil. Cecil liked to joke that if he had to have cancer getting season tickets to the cancer center was an unexpected benefit. The nurses there are all absolute angels.

The family would also like to thank Passages hospice for their loving care and support in the final months of Cecil’s life.

A memorial service will be held at Lake Lawn Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd in New Orleans, on Saturday, June 17, 2023. The visitation will begin at 10 AM with a memorial service following at 12 PM.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Cecil’s name can be made to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.