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ERATH — A Mass of Christian Burial for Mrs. Rita Nunez Davis, 100, was held at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church on Saturday, December 17, 2022 at 11 a.m. with Fr. Steven LeBlanc officiating. Interment followed at Our Lady of Lourdes Cemetery.
Rita L. Davis was born on Bayou Tigre south of Delcambre, La on February 14, 1922. Rita passed away at Maison de Lafayette Nursing Home at the age of 100. Her family moved to Avery Island when she was 6 years old. She attended Avery Island School from first grade to fifth grade. Then she attended the old New Iberia High School from seventh grade to eleventh grade (at the time La school districts only required eleven years to graduate). She worked for Humble Oil Company, McIlhenny Company, the Bank of Erath, The Texas Company and finished the last 28 years of her career with Texaco at the Sabine Hub south of Erath, La. as an Executive Secretary, proficient in typing and short handwriting. Her first marriage with Jonas Donald Nunez of Erath, La. Produced an infant son who passed away a few hours after birth. Donald, who was a decorated World War II Veteran passed away in a car accident in 1950 at 28 years old. She remarried to Richard L. Davis in 1981 who was also a WW II and Korean War Veteran and a co-worker at Texaco as procurement manager. She and Rick loved to socialize with friends and traveled throughout the USA.
She is survived by her many nieces and nephews; her stepdaughters, Rickie Lynn and her husband Arthur James Maloney Jr., Tamera Ann and her husband Stephen Ray Crosby; her step grandchildren, Christy Lynn, Lori Allison, and Pamela Shawn, Charmin Catherine, Richard Stephen, Thomas Christopher, and David Lowell; and her several step greatgrandchildren.
She is preceded in death by her parents, Nicholas and Elodie Girouard Landry; her first husband, Jonas Donald Nunez; her second husband, Richard L. Davis; her sisters, Nina Primeaux, Nola Romero, Gertrude Dubios, Viola Dubios, and Ann David; and her brothers, Fualdes Landry, Lennis Landry, Calvin Landry, Sefrien Landry, Simon Landry, and Aston Landry.
Serving as pallbearers were Kaden Romero, Ryan Turner, Greg Dubios, A.J. Meloney, Randall Landry, Dustin Gaspard.
You may sign the guest register book and express condolences online at www.davidfuneralhome.org
David Funeral Home of Erath 209 E. Putnam St. (337)937-0405 handled the arrangements.

July 9, 1953 ~ December 11, 2022

ABBEVILLE — A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:00 AM on Friday, December 16, 2022 at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church honoring the life of Leonard “Gabby” Murray Mayard Jr., 69, passed peacefully on December 11, 2022, surrounded by loved ones. He will be laid to rest at St. Mary Magdalen Cemetery with Reverend Louis J. Richard officiating the services. Pallbearers will be Zan Beckett, Brandon Leifer, Robert Kasperski, Henry Kasperski (honorary), Caleb Mayard, Sam Mayard, Kevin Sagrera, and Steven Sagrera. The list of honorary pallbearers could go on and on, just the same as his stories.
Leonard was born in Abbeville, LA on July 9th, 1953 to Leonard Murray Mayard Sr. and Laurence Cousson Mayard. Leonard met the love of his life Tina Broussard at the young age of 21 and they married on September 13, 1975, in Abbeville, LA. A hardworking and lifelong farmer of rice, crawfish and alligator, Leonard always found time to enjoy special moments with family, grandchildren and friends. Leonard never met a stranger, as they say. He could befriend anyone, and always had great stories to tell and share. He was a distinguished archer and lover of all things rodeo and horses - a true cowboy. That is how he will be remembered. Leonard will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved him.
He is preceded in death by his father, Leonard M. Mayard Sr.; mother, Laurence C. Mayard; and brothers, William Mark Mayard and Gary Matthew Mayard.
Leonard is survived by his wife, Tina B. Mayard; daughters Melody and husband, Michael Rayburn, and Christy Lynn Mayard; sons, Leonard Murray Mayard III and wife, Codi Mayard, Joseph Mark Mayard and wife, Adrienne Mayard; sister, Mitzi Mayard Leifer and husband, Michael Leifer; brothers, Warren Anthony Mayard and husband, Joseph McCarty, and Larry Mayard and wife, Jan Mayard; ten grandchildren, Channing Langlinais, Caleb Mayard, Madelyn Langlinais, Emma Mayard, Sam Mayard, Noah Mayard, Mally Mayard, Joshua Mayard, Zack Mayard, and Leo Mayard; and many nieces and nephews, all of whom he loved deeply.
The family requests that visiting hours be observed at Vincent Funeral Home - Abbeville, 209 S. St. Charles St., on Thursday, December 15, 2022 from 4:00 PM until 9:00 PM with a rosary being prayed at 7:00 PM; Friday, December 16, 2022 from 8:00 AM until 10:45 AM when the procession will depart for the church.
Thank you to Doctor Dobbs and his staff for giving us cherished extra years with Leonard.
Condolences may be sent to the family at www.vincentfuneralhome.net.
All funeral arrangements are being conducted by Vincent Funeral Home of Abbeville, (337) 893-4661.

French President Emmanuel Macron was offered several choices of places to visit after his duties in Washington were done. Chicago, Atlanta, and other cities were on the short list, but they had no chance to push aside New Orleans with its centuries-old ties to France.
His visit December 2 wasn’t the first time a French president came to Louisiana. Valery Giscard d’Estaing visited New Orleans and Lafayette in 1970, and Charles DeGaulle was hosted by Louisiana luminaries at the end of April 1960.
One of the most unlikely of those 1960 hosts was D. J. (Cat) Doucet, the legendary sheriff of St. Landry Parish. New Orleans Mayor deLesseps (Chep) Morrison said Cat was invited because DeGaulle wanted to meet some French-speakers from south Louisiana, and that he knew “no more fabulous French character” than Doucet.
The sheriff was one of six men invited from south Louisiana. The others were Morgan Goudeau from Opelousas, E. A. Veillon and Gladney Manuel from Eunice, and Paul Tate and Calvin Landreneau from Mamou.
Those five drove to New Orleans for a big reception the day after DeGaulle’s arrival. Cat went a day early, worked his way into the group that met the president’s plane, and, he said afterwards, was one of the first to shake hands with DeGaulle at the airport.
Cat reported, “I said ‘bonjour, M’sieu le Presidente!’ We shook hands and he said to me, ‘je suis fier d’attend la langue français.’ That means he was proud to hear me talk French to him.”
Cat was in the motorcade that escorted DeGaulle to the Roosevelt Hotel, and according to one report “spoke at length to the guest of honor,” and his wife at the hotel.
“I told him that Chep Morrison could talk French, too, not as good as me, but pretty good,” Cat said. He said DeGaulle’s wife looked just like an acquaintance from Lawtell.
The sheriff was on hand the next day when DeGaulle spoke to a crowd in front of St. Louis Cathedral, then went inside for a ceremony during which “the priest threw holy water at him and all that.”
A long-running feud between Morrison and Gov. Earl Long created a bit of a scene at the banquet that followed.
DeGaulle’s visit came just after Long’s forced stays in several mental hospitals, and Morrison, who did not like Long to begin with, was afraid he might make a scene. He excluded the governor from all of the other events surrounding the visit, seated him far down the table at the banquet, and told Earl, who tended to ramble on, to keep his remarks to five minutes.
The hot-tempered Long spoke for only three minutes, told Morrison he could have the other two minutes back, and stormed out of the room.
Cat was a fervent Long supporter, but that’s not what the sheriff remembered most about that banquet.
“They had something in a big bowl, like whiskey. They set fire to it and walked through the room with it burning,” Cat said. “That’s the first time I’d seen that.”
Overall, the sheriff said, DeGaulle impressed him as “a very independent old gentleman, very sincere when we talked. He stood up straight, very dignified.”
He told friends that he enjoyed talking to the president, and that they had no problem understanding each other.
“You know,” he is said to have told a friend, “his French ain’t too bad.”
You can contact Jim Bradshaw at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.

July 26, 1942 ~ December 7, 2022

ABBEVILLE — Funeral Services for Barbara Gayle Primeaux LeMaire, 80, will be held at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, December 17, 2022, at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Abbeville, Louisiana. Visitation will begin at 8:00 a.m. with a Rosary at 8:30 a.m. Father Louis Richard will celebrate the Mass. A reception will follow Mass in the St. Mary Magdalen Ministries Building.
Barbara Gayle, a longtime resident of Abbeville, served her community in numerous ways throughout her life. She worked as an educator in the Vermilion Parish School System and was an ardent supporter of her alma mater, Abbeville High School. In addition to being a longtime member of the AHS Booster Club, she played a major role in the creation of the AHS Hall of Fame and hosted numerous Induction Socials. In 2021, she was selected for induction into the AHS Hall of Fame, herself, an honor she greatly cherished.
She was a devout Catholic who embarked on several holy pilgrimages, helped to rebuild the Bancker Grotto, and devoted nightly Rosaries to all whom she loved. As her many friends and family members can attest, she was steadfast in her loyalty, boundless in her generosity, and extraordinary in her compassion. She was a dynamo, always the life of the party, and she reveled in her roles as a fierce Wildcat cheerleader and fun-loving Fa-trette. That her favorite song was “My Way” was no surprise to anyone who knew her well.
Her Homecoming Parade somersaults and award-winning Christmas trees were memorable, but she wished instead to be remembered in the warm rays of the sun, in the crisp spring breeze, and in the sound of hummingbirds’ wings.
She is survived by her daughter, Lisa, her two grandsons, Brooks Bertrand of Iowa, Louisiana and his wife, Darian, and Barrett Bertrand of Austin, Texas and his partner, John, and her two great grandsons, Damon Paul and Remey Michael Bertrand.
Her husband, Theodore (Teddy) LeMaire, her son, Gerald (Boz) Libersat Jr., her parents, Gladys and Lily Vice Primeaux, and her sister, Judy, preceded her in death.
Her family is grateful for the care provided by Hospice of Acadiana and the Calcutta House of Lafayette, and in lieu of flowers, they ask that memorial contributions be made to these organizations.
Condolences may be sent to the family at www.vincentfuneralhome.net.
All funeral arrangements are being conducted by Vincent Funeral Home of Abbeville, (337) 893-4661.