Ansel M. Clay, son of the late William S. Clay and Nannie B. Farish Clay, was born on October 3, 1919 in Stalo, Mississippi and passed away on August 2, 2013 at SoutheastHealth of Stoddard County in Dexter at the age of 93 years.

Mr. Clay attended the Risen Church in Dexter, was a member of the Dexter Masonic Lodge #532 and was a resident of Dexter.  He was a farmer and had worked in the maintenance department of American Bakery in St. Louis. 

On February 3, 1941, he was united in marriage to Margaret Phegley in Parma, Missouri.  Mrs. Clay resides at the home.

He is survived by two sons, James Robert Clay and his wife, Carolyn,  of Sikeston, Jerry Clay and his wife, Junie, of Dexter; by one daughter, Sara Mae Knight and her husband, Vearl, of Eureka, Missouri; by one brother, Welton Clay of Iverness, Florida; by two sisters, Rosemary Roberts of Poplar Bluff and Margaret Bailey of Milledgeville, Georiga; by ten grandchildren, twenty-five great-grandchildren and three great-great- grandchildren. 

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by one son, Wilson Gary Clay and one grandson, Matthew Haley.

Friends may call at the Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home in Dexter on Monday, August 5, 2013 from 11:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M.

Funeral services will be conducted on August 5, 2013 at 1:00 P.M. in the Rainey-Mathis Funeral Chapel with Rev. Joshua Carpenter officiating.  Interment will follow in the Dexter Cemetery.