Mary Louise Laenger

KEITHVILLE, LA - Funeral services for Mary Laenger will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 11, 2017 at Shiloh Baptist Church, with Brother Charles Hall officiating. Interment will follow at Shiloh Baptist Church Cemetery in Keatchie, LA. Visitation with the family will be held prior to the service beginning at 2:00 p.m. Mary Louise Speights Laenger, died on May 9, 2017 in Keithville, LA after a lengthy illness. She was 80 years old. She was born on February 19, 1937, in Shiloh, LA to parents, Willie Belle and William Benjamin Speights. Mary was the youngest of 8 children and lived her life in the Shiloh community, graduating from Longstreet High School in 1956, before marrying the love of her life, Richard B. Laenger, on December 30, 1956. Mary Louise, a young bride of only 18 years old, showed great courage and love by travelling alone to England, to be with her new husband, who was serving in the United States Air Force. They lived in England for a year before traveling back home to start their family. She was a lifetime member of Shiloh Baptist Church and also enjoyed being an active member of Liberty Baptist Church for many years Mary Louise or Lou, as some called her, was an active person and loved to be outside fishing, gardening, or going to the beach. She was a great cook and a talented homemaker, who loved to make quilts and crochet. She had fun square dancing and clogging with the Sunshine Cloggers. Mary Lou loved to bowl, go camping with family and hosted countless fish fry's, and barbeques in the back yard under the large oaks. She and her husband, Richard, were inseparable and were always seen together enjoying their many interests. Mary is survived by her husband, Richard B. Laenger, of 63 years; sons, Richard Lane Laenger and wife, Mary, William Keith Laenger and wife, Janine; daughter, Vickie Louise Laenger Thompson and husband, Mark; 6 grandchildren, Michelle Alys Bailey and husband, Brian, Richard "Tra" Nolan and wife, Jerri, April Louise Thompson, Amber Elaine Thompson and wife, Kassi Tyler, Emily Christine Laenger, and Jenna Olivia Laenger; 6 great-grandchildren, Kade Bailey, Kyle Bailey, Elliana Laenger, Brooklyn Daisy Laenger, Emma Laenger, and Marlee Thompson; sister-in-law, Helen Speights; along with numerous nieces, nephews, and extended family. She was preceded in death by her parents, Willie Belle and William Benjamin Speights; brothers, Clemon Speights, Noble Speights, Milton Speights, Huey Speights, and Choyce Speights; sisters, Olean English and Nelda Ladner. Honoring Mary as pallbearers will be, Mark Thompson, Tra Laenger, Reggie Speights, Bill Speights, John Hardy, Doug Lawhorne, Brian Bailey, and Peter Winkler. The family would like to give a special thanks to Mary Lou's caregivers, Ms. Suzie and Ms. Earnestine. Also to her granddaughters, April Thompson, Amber Thompson, and Kassi Tyler, who took really good care of their granny for the last two years of her life.