Luella Vern (Meek) Clevenger, of Lewiston, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025, at the age of 100. Born Aug. 31, 1924, to Gladys Smith and Coleman Meek in Orofino, she grew up and went to school in Orofino and Pierce, later attending Kinman Business School in Spokane.
Luella spent most of her life in Lewiston but also called Korea and Alaska home for brief periods in the 1960s. She had a long career in banking from 1958 to 1979 and then worked at the health department in Lewiston until her retirement in 1989. In retirement, she and her husband, Clyde Clevenger, traveled extensively across the United States.
Luella had a passion for traveling, fishing, hunting and dancing. She was an avid gardener, enjoying growing her own fruits and vegetables. Her love for dancing began at an early age when she and a friend would perform at a local bar in Orofino to earn money for dance lessons. She worked with her mother in the cookhouses at local logging camps as well as helping her friend, Irene Carlson, run the Gunnysack Inn in Dixie. Luella’s love for cooking never waned, and she was always whipping up something delicious for friends and family. She was a proud member of the Lewiston Eagle’s Club.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her son Rodney Allen Heese, husbands Ed Heese and Clyde Clevenger and her brother Norman Meek. Luella is survived by her granddaughters Michelle Klecan and Carmen Simpson, six great-grandchildren, two great-great-grandchildren and her beloved cousin, Sharon Coryell.
She will be buried at 2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 16, at Lewis-Clark Memorial Gardens in Lewiston.
The family would like to publicly thank the staff of Wedgewood Terrace and Heart ’N Home Hospice for the care they gave Luella.
