Dr. Lester Ancelet

Jennings

Funeral services for Lester Armond Ancelet, M.D., FACS, 92, of Jennings, will be held 1:00 p.m. Saturday, January 12, 2019 in Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Church with Rev. Susil Fernando officiating.

Visitation will be held on Friday, January 11, 2019 from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. with a rosary at 6:00 p.m. and will resume on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.

Burial will be in the Greenwood Cemetery under the direction of Miguez Funeral Home of Jennings.

Born on April 9, 1926 in Sulphur, Louisiana and passed on January 4, 2019 in Jennings, Louisiana. 

At the age of 17, Lester joined the Navy as a corpsman to defend his country in World War II.  During his service in the Navy, he achieved the rank of Chief Pharmacist Mate and participated in the Pacific theater campaigns of New Hebrides (now Vanuatu), Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa.  He received many distinguished honors for his service including the Pistol Marksmanship Medal, Purple Heart, Bronze Star, and the Silver Star (the third highest military decoration for valor in combat awarded for “gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States”).  After returning home from the war, Lester received a B.S. from McNeese State University in Chemical Engineering, a Masters in Parasitology from LSU, and his medical degree in 1954 from LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans.  Dr. Ancelet also completed his general surgery residency at Charity Hospital in New Orleans.  He met his beautiful wife, Jackie, while attending LSU in Baton Rouge and they married in 1952.  The Doctors Ancelet moved to Jennings in 1959 and practiced medicine together until their retirement in 1998.  Dr. Ancelet was a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a past Commander of the VFW Post 3686, a member of Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Church, an avid hunter and fisherman, and a true Tiger fan.

He is preceded in death by his wife of 66 years, Dr. Jacquelyn “Jackie” Shaffett Ancelet, his parents Leonard Ancelet and Edea Guidry Ancelet, a brother, Dr. Carroll Ancelet, and a sister, Genevieve Ancelet.

Left behind to cherish his memory are two daughters, Leslie Ancelet Petry of Jennings, Dr. Myra Ancelet Reed of Panama City, Fl., a son, Stuart (Karen) Ancelet of Lafayette, ten grandchildren, Elise Petry Guintard, Blake Petry, Heath Petry, Garrett Petry, Mallory Petry, Logan Reed, Tara Reed, Cole Reed, Jacquelyn “Jackie” Ancelet, Clayton Ancelet, eight great-grandchildren, and his sister-in-law, Lorraine Hebert Ancelet of Houma.  

Pallbearers will be his six grandsons.  Honorary pallbearers are Allen Benoit, Bill Caraway, Hilliard Duhon, Archie Fontenot, Danny Rutledge and Jerry Ryder.