Claudia Young

June 12, 1925 ~ August 16, 2018
Claudia Young (Duerden-Brienholt-Steed) graduated from a long and good life on earth August 16, 2018 at the age of 93 at her home in Provo, UT, surrounded by family.
Family has always been important to her, both as the mother of four boys and her blended family from three husbands (Claude, Floyd, and Harmon).
They totaled ten children, including birth children Greg, David, Richard, and Scott, in addition to Karen, Mark, Mace, Lisa, Doug, and Debbie and their spouses; grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren; which number several hundred.
The force which was Claudia was born June 12, 1925 in Monticello, the last member of Claude Lamar Young and Inez Jones’ four children (Karma, Claudia, Harold, and Jerry).
She loved her first 19 years of life in San Juan County, loved her family and her heritage, and was always proud of her roots. 
Claudia was educated in Monticello and graduated from Monticello High School with many lifelong friends and even a couple of “beaus.”
One of her first jobs was taking care of her Grandma Mary Jones, the widow of Bishop F. I. Jones, as she was blind and closing out her final years.
She loved Grandma Jones and went over to help every day after school. She also loved her mom and dad, Inez and Claud, being named after her father, who died suddenly from a ranching accident in July, 1945.
Due to the death of her father, she delayed a college education for a year, and worked at the Monticello telephone office to help her widowed mother.
As a young girl, Claudia was a good cowgirl. Her favorite horse was Squatty, which she rode in the San Juan County Fair each year. 
Just as her grandfather helped establish Monticello, her father Claud was also important to the community, helping establish the water and power utilities for the town.
When she finally got to college, she moved to Salt Lake City and enrolled in LDS Business College. She had a blind date with a tall good-looking World War II Veteran and another Claude entered her life.
Love isn’t always easy, but Claude was enamored and pursued her while she made him work for it. They were married in the Salt Lake City Temple in January, 1948. 
Claude and Claudia finished schooling and started a family. Fifteen months later their first son arrived, followed three years later with another, then another and finally a fourth son.
Over the years, the family moved a bit but ended up in Provo where Claude was teaching Health Education and working with the Indian Education Program at BYU – as well as being a Bishop at a Campus Ward at BYU.
Claudia worked as the Office Manager at Berg Mortuary for several years and then became a Claims Representative for the Social Security Provo Office for the rest of her working career. Several years before Claudia retired, Claude died in 1974.
“Widow Claudia” attended church and a fellow ward member and recent widower intentionally left his scriptures home and read over her shoulder during Sunday School.
That intelligent individual was Floyd Brienholt. They were married in the Provo Temple in 1976. With the marriage, Claudia had daughters, Floyd’s children Karen, Mace and Lisa, and son Mark.
Floyd and Claudia enjoyed retired life, traveling and living in Provo, and they had a home in Ivins, UT. Floyd passed away in 1997.
Family friends introduced twice-widowed Claudia to a widower, Harmon Steed, in St. George, UT.
They were married in April, 1999, and went on a “honeymoon” full-time LDS Mission to Rochester, NY, where her son, Mark, was Mission President.
They served in Palmyra, at the Hill Cumorah, at the Smith Farm, and the Sacred Grove. Harm’s sense of humor brought more than one smile to Claudia’s face over the years. Harm passed away in 2017.
Claudia was always active in the church and in her social life – Odd Quads, book clubs, etc. She had 90 years of good health and happiness. It has only been the last couple of years that her health issues have kept her from attending church.
She is preceeded in death by her husbands Claude, Floyd, and Harmon, daughter Karen, son-in-law Jerry, three daughters-in-law, sister Karma, brothers Harold and Jerry, brother-in-law Jack, parents Claud and Inez, beloved grandmother Mary, nephew and niece-in-law Ron and Jana, many San Juan County friends and loved ones, and thousands of ancestors awaiting the reunion on the other side.
She is survived by a large and loving family, too numerous to list here, suffice it to say “hundreds” with many more hundreds of friends in Provo, San Juan County and across Utah. She will be dearly missed by one and all.