Don Chauvin passes away after helping induct longtime friend into Abbeville High Hall of Fame

On Thursday, one of the founding fathers of the Abbeville High Hall of Fame gave his final talk about his good friend who was being inducted in the Hall of Fame Class of 2021. He sat back down, and then closed his eyes.
Don Chauvin died around two hours later after speaking highly about his long-time friend, Barbara LeMaire, who was being inducted into the Abbeville High Hall of Fame as an honorary member.
Acadiana Ambulance and the Abbeville Fire Department worked on Chauvin for about 30 minutes, and when they left Magdalen Place, Chauvin still had a pulse.
The ceremony was stopped. The two other hall of fame inductees will be remembered at next year’s ceremony.
Chauvin’s family was by his side while medical personnel worked on their father.
One of the last people to leave Magdelen Place was LeMaire. She hung around and was in disbelief of what had just happened.
“I am very sad,” she said. “Don was a great human being and would do anything for you. He was very special.”
LeMaire and Chauvin helped create the Abbeville High Hall of Fame.
Chauvin leaves this world with a long, long list of accomplishments.
Chauvin graduated from Abbeville High School in 1962, and chose to continue his education at LSU, majoring in accounting.
In June of 1964, he married Janet Young, and the couple recently celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary. Chauvin worked as an accountant for Oil Field Valve service for a few years, and he then went to work for the American Tobacco Company as a factory representative. He was later hired by a small northeast bakery company known as Keebler. Keebler wanted to extend their marketing reach throughout the United States, and Don was responsible for much of Keebler’s efforts in Louisiana.
In 1970, Chauvin joined his dad in operating an H & R Block franchise in Abbeville. During this time in his life, he became involved with various community service projects for which he is best known.
He and the late James N. Hebert organized the Abbeville Youth Football League.
Chauvin also coached the Gulf Coast Premix Little League baseball team in the Riceland Little League. In addition, he served as the league’s president for several years.
Chauvin served as Chairman of the Abbeville Parks and Recreation Commission. Then-Mayor Jimmy Vorhoff appointed him. The Commission was responsible for the operation of the City of Abbeville’s Parks and Recreation system.
During this same time, Chauvin became active with the Abbeville High School Booster Club and eventually was elected president. At that time, the Boosters were only active during football season, and it was mostly a “greet and eat” organization. However, Chauvin knew they could do much more for athletics, and he set out to find additional opportunities for the Boosters to serve the athletic needs of Abbeville High School.
This desire to do more led to a meaningful meeting with then-head coach and Athletic Director Mike Conlin. Early in 1976, Chauvin met with Coach Conlin to discuss things the Boosters could do to help all of the athletic programs at Abbeville High. Coach Conlin provided a list of needed materialistic things, and then he challenged Chauvin to form an athletic hall of fame. Coach Conlin emphasized the rich traditions of the school and the outstanding accomplishments of its athletes. He hoped that this hall of honor would encourage the young athletes at the school to excel, hoping that someday they too would be enshrined into the Hall of Fame.
Don went to work, and the Abbeville High School Athletic Hall of Fame was indeed created. The first two inductees were enshrined in 1977.
In addition to athletics, Chauvin was involved in other organizations. He was a member of the Lions Club, the Chamber of Commerce, the Abbeville Historical Alliance, and he was a board member of the Abbeville Country Club. In addition, he is a past president of the Rotary Club of Abbeville and served as Rotary International District 6200 Governor in 2005-2006.
The Rotary Club of Abbeville posted a message Friday morning: “Our Rotary Family has lost one of the Greatest Rotarians PDG Don Chauvin. Don Chauvin was a great mentor to many of us in Rotary and in Life. He believed in YOU even if you didn’t believe you could. He was kind, humble, and had a great love for Rotary and doing good.
“We thank you for your service to Rotary. We thank you for the may communities and people you assisted over the years. We thank you for your dedication and passion to Rotary, Rest in Peace Don Chauvin.”
Chauvin was married to Janet Young, a Shreveport native. Chauvin and Janet are the proud parents of Todd Chauvin, Pamela Chauvin-Trahan, Kimberly Chauvin-Etie, and Clayton Chauvin.
In 2017, Chauvin was inducted into the Abbeville Hall of Fame as an honorary member like LeMaire. Because of Rotary, Chauvin tried to live by Rotary’s motto, “SERVICE ABOVE SELF.” In his Hall of Fame induction ceremony speech in 2017, he incorporated those three words. He closed and said, “I hoped I lived up to that motto.”
It is safe to say he did.