Obituaries

Caroline Adelle Semerad, of Baton Rouge, passed away unexpectedly on August 9. She was 32 years old. Caroline was born September 15, 1989, in Royal Oak, Michigan, to Lauren Hollingsworth and Jim Semerad, and grew up in Ruston. She was admitted to the Honors Program at Louisiana State University on a full academic scholarship, where she graduated with a B.S. in Psychology. At the time of her death, she had just completed her third semester at Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University Nursing School in Baton Rouge, where she felt she had finally found her true calling. The outpouring of grief and kind words from her faculty and fellow students are testament to Caroline’s optimism and commitment to her future as a nurse and the life she was making for herself and her 5-year-old daughter Anna: “I will always remember Caroline’s perseverance, transparency, and her compassion for others, particularly her classmates. She had a drive like no other student I have encountered.”

Graveside services for Bobby Glen Till, 85, of Dubach, will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, September 3, 2022, at Hamilton Cemetery, in Dubach, under the direction of Kilpatrick Funeral Homes of Ruston.

Funeral services for Carolyn Ruth Gafford Crear will be held Saturday at 2 p.m. at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Grambling. She was a long-time pharmacist who worked in many facilities in Lincoln, Union, Ouachita and Claiborne parishes, before retiring in New Orleans. She was born on July 24, 1949, in Union Parish, the fourth of seven children and first daughter born to Ardell and Polly Gafford. Because of her father’s military career, she spent much of her early childhood living across the country and around the world. During her teenage years the family settled back in Union Parish, where Carolyn graduated from Westside High School in 1967. She enrolled in Grambling State University, where she pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and was awarded a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 1971.

Funeral services for Dolores Odom Williams will be 10 a. m. Tuesday, August 30, 2022, at Simsboro First Baptist Church in Simsboro with Dr. Matt Endris officiating. Interment will follow at the Simsboro City Cemetery under the direction of Kilpatrick Funeral Home in Ruston. A visitation will be Monday, August 29, 2022, from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. at Kilpatrick Funeral Home in Ruston.