Baton Rouge, LA - Clara Stuart Andersen, age 94, died peacefully on July 25, 2026, in her hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She was born on December 20, 1931, the sixth of seven children of Walter Bynum Stuart and Rosa Gautreaux Stuart.

She attended local schools and graduated from Baton Rouge High School in 1948. In 1951 she married Paul K. Andersen, an Iowa native and electrical engineer at Humble Oil (now Exxon Mobil).

In 1960 she was the mother of three young children when her older daughter's school asked her to lead a Camp Fire Girls group. Though initially hesitant, she agreed. This new role was the start of her long voluntary career and her interest in informal education and lifelong learning. She led her younger daughter's Camp Fire group through high school. She was later elected to the local council's board and asked to head their volunteer development efforts. Clara continued this work at the national level as a volunteer representative of Camp Fire, leading training workshops and advising councils in three states until the mid-1980s.

In 1988 she joined a group of women who were career and life-planning consultants to conduct workshops aimed at helping others find a path forward in their lives during periods of uncertainty and indecision. She said she was drawn to this project because of her own past struggles, including a serious depression following the birth of her third child. She later wrote that sharing her experience and knowledge to help other women was deeply meaningful to her.

Although she was unable to pursue formal higher education, Clara was intellectually curious and an avid reader of philosophy, psychology, and faith and spirituality. At St. James Place she participated in a creative writing group. She described herself as a lifelong "student of life."

Her family was central to her life. She and Paul were married for 70 years and often said their family was their greatest achievement. Clara was a loving mother and grandmother, who wanted her children to be self-reliant and caring adults. Her family and friends enjoyed her gracious hospitality and good cooking. They also knew they could always find in her a sympathetic ear.

Clara was a long-time member of St. Aloysius Catholic Church. After Paul converted to Catholicism in 1986, they volunteered for 20 years as peer counselors for Retrouvaille, a program to help couples struggling with their marriage. It was a shared experience they later said strengthened their own marriage.

In her last years, she faced the challenges of physical decline with great courage and never lost her warm smile. She will be greatly missed.

Clara is survived by her three children and their spouses: Kathleen Stuart Andersen (Daniel M. Fox), Richard Paul Andersen (Martha Hebert Andersen), and Susan Andersen Staub (Jack G. Staub); six grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her brother Robert M. Stuart and her nieces and nephews. The family is enormously grateful to the staffs of St. James Place and The Hospice of Baton Rouge for their kindness and care.

Visitation will be on Monday, August 17, 2026, at St. Aloysius Church, 2025 Stuart Ave., from 9:30 a.m. until the Funeral Mass at 11:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in honor of Clara S. Andersen to St. Aloysius Church or to a favorite charity.