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ABBEVILLE – A Homegoing Celebration for Shirley Ann Plowden Bernard, 77, will be at 11:00 AM, Saturday, August 7, 2021 at Mt. Triumph Baptist Church, 310 South Lamar St., Abbeville, LA. Pastor Willie Williams, Jr. will officiate the service.
She will be laid to rest in St. Paul Catholic Cemetery alongside her husband.
Face masks will be required.
Visitation will be held on Saturday at the church beginning at 9:00 AM and will conclude at the time of the service.
Shirley Ann Plowden Bernard was born on Monday, November 15, 1943 to the late Cleveland Plowden, Sr. and Nona Nolan Plowden in Abbeville, LA. She was reared in the schools of Vermilion Parrish and was a gradute of Herod High School, Class of 1961. She went on to attend Southern University in Baton Rouge, LA and received her Bachelor’s degree in Education.
After returning home she met and married Gerald Bernard on October 23, 1965 and were blessed with four children. They enjoyed fifty-four years together before his passing in September, 2020. Shirely was a well respected Educator and worked for the Vermilion Parish School Board and retired after 40 plus years of service.
Shirley had a deep love for the Lord. Having accepted Christ at an early age she was baptized at the Mt. Triumph Baptist church where she was a faithful member until her passing. She was active in the Mission Ministry and sang in the choir. She was also a past member of St. Mary Congregational Church where she and Gerald worshipped together. Shirley had a beautiful voice and sang at many churches in Vermilion Parish area.
In addition to her husband and parents, she was also preceded in death by five siblings, Cleveland Plowden, Jr., Jeffery Plowden, Mamie Grant, Etheline Hills and Gwendolyn Plowden; and her father and mother- in-law, Roger and Nolia Bernard, Sr. Shirley had a gentle peace and knew that her time of transition. On Monday, July 26, 2021, Shirley returned to the God she loved and served in Lafayette, LA following a lengthy illness. ”Ti’l my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river.”
Shirley’s life and legacy shall always be embraced by her four children, Nona (Alonzo, Sr.) Powell of Lafayette, La, Stacey Bernard, Galen Bernard and Natalie Bernard, all of Abbeville, LA; four siblings, Glen (Lucy) Plowden, Sr., and Beverly (Joseph) Butcher, all of Abbeville, LA and Annie Fusilier of Maurice, LA; four grandsons, Alonzo (Roya) Powell, Jr., Gerren Powell and Drake Powell, all of Lafayette, LA and Braden Sellers, of Meaux, LA,; two great-grandchildren, Lei’ Anni Powell and Carson Patterson; sisters-in-law, Patricia Plowden of Abbevile, and Sylvia Plowden-Brown of Jennings, LA, a close family friend, Hubert Bessard of Abbeville, LA; as well as numerous nieces, nephews other relatives and friends who loved her dearly.
Personal condolences may be expressed to the family by on our website: carneyfuneralhome.net
Arrangements are entrusted to Carney Funeral Home of Lafayette, LA.

KAPLAN — On Thursday, Mayor Mike Kloesel of Kaplan announced the appointment of Jake Faulk to Kaplan Fire Chief and Robby Pommier to Assistant Fire Chief effective immediately. The mayor will ask the city council to ratify the appointments at the next Kaplan city council meeting.
Mayor Kloesel states that Jake and Robby are very capable leaders and firefighters. Both men have the approval and respect of the entire fire department, the volunteer fire department, and the Kaplan Fire Department board of directors.

MAURICE — Local governments throughout the country are working on plans on how to spend federal funds aimed at easing some of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The village of Maurice is in line to receive $595,092.46 through the American Rescue Plan Act, passed by Congress earlier this year. Of the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan, $350 billion is earmarked for state and local governments.
“There are certain stipulations on what it can be used for,” Maurice Mayor Wayne Theriot said. “One of them is infrastructure, water and sewer. Another is broadband, but we don’t have broadband. It does say other governmental services, so there are some questions.”
Maurice is scheduled to receive 50% of the funds this year, with the remainder coming exactly 365 days later.
Tom Carroll of Sellers & Associates said during the Board of Aldermen meeting on July 21 that water and sewer may be an area of focus.
“You may have sewer extensions that you want to incorporate,” Carroll said. “You may have some looping water lines that you want to incorporate. There are several things that could be eligible for the $595,000.
“You really have to look at your system to see what you want to do.”
Theriot said there is a preliminary list of projects.
“We have discussed some things,” Theriot said. “On our water going south, we made an extension into Picard Farms. It’s not a looped line. We are looking at taking this water, past Etienne (Road), where we extended, and go down Beau Road to loop the line. That is one thing it can be used for.”
Theriot said that option is near the top on the list of projects.
“That way we would have a total looped system,” Theriot said. “We would have that for services and fire protection. It would prevent what happened a few months ago, when the line at Etienne broke. It would prevent us from having to shut down the water. We could come around from the other side, and isolate that area. That would help out with the pressure and everything.”
Sewer is another option.
“We have certain areas where we do not provide sewer,” Theriot said. “That’s mainly around (La. Hwy.) 92. I have them looking at going to provide Lois Private Lane and Coyote Trail. There are about a dozen residents that we could service in that area.”
Roads would take precedence, should there be a way to include roadwork as part of the federal funds.
“If we get an approval to do roads,” Theriot said, “that would disregard those (previously mentioned) projects. We have a utility fund that we could eventually use to do those projects. We don’t have anything for roads. If they would approve us for roads, we could overlay all of the roads in town.”
Carroll said there is another water fund available that will require a match.
“They will be looking for a 25% match,” Carroll said. “We have been told that you can take some of the previous money, the $595,000, and use that for your 25% match.
“There are a lot of working parts, to see what you can and can’t do.”
Theriot said there are also discussions on constructing another water tower on the south side of Maurice. He said that could be located near the new sewer plant on Beau Road.
“That would be able to stabilize the pressure in that particular area,” Theriot said, “that way you are not relying on it coming from the north portion. That is something that could be looked at, especially with the matching fund. We would have to loop the line to get it here, and we would have to look at the cost of putting up an aerial tower.
“Looping the line and putting up an aerial tower would probably be most advantageous for us, using the $595,000 and the matching fund.”
Alderman Warren Rost said the plan for a water tower makes sense.
“Once that starts developing behind NuNu’s,” Rost said of the area along U.S. Hwy. 167, “you are looking at another 300 or 400 homes.”
Funds through the American Rescue Plan Act are eligible to cover losses in revenue that occurred due to the pandemic. Theriot said Maurice doesn’t qualify in that regard.
“We did not lose any revenue,” Theriot said. “We actually had a revenue increase. Our revenue increased 80 to 90% of what it was before.”

There are plenty of old customs that have vanished over the years. Years ago, it was commonplace for a man to remove his hat before entering a home or building. Hats were not worn indoors. That custom no longer exist today. Long ago before telephones were commonplace and when la vieille Azema, a mid-wife, delivered a baby, the proud papa would take down his shotgun from the rack above the door and fire it to announce the arrival. Bang! Bang! Un bal pour une fille; deux bals pour un garçon. Bang! Bang! (One round for a girl, two rounds for a boy.)
There was a type of square dance that the Cajuns danced named “lancier Acadien”, which was different than regular square dances. It was also known as quadrille, a country dance that dates back to the 18th century and consisted of four couples. This dance was performed in Dallas at the 1936 folk life festival by a group of young Acadians from New Iberia. The group was led by Fred Decuir. They danced all five parts of the dance to the music of Wade Broussard of St. Martinville.
There was another form of square dance called les variétés. And there was also another dance called the Jilliling, a two-step, reportedly named for a Swedish opera singer named Jenny Lind. She was one of the most highly regarded singers in the 1800s and often referred to as the Swedish Nightingale.
Not that long ago on the Cajun prairies were other customs that have vanished over time, e.g., coup de main, a lending hand, especially when it required lots of hands during à couvrage (re-shingling bee), écosserie (hulling bee) ou à piocherie (hoeing bee). This was customary, especially after the death of the head of household or the person traditionally doing the work on the farmstead. There was also à boucherie de campagne (a country slaughter of a hog or cow), which was more common especially during the winter months.
Also long ago, most Cajuns were married in fall or winter months when they had money from the harvest. The married couple were oftentimes invited and paid to have their bal de noce or wedding dance at certain dance halls. These dances usually brought in a large crowd including friends and family members of the bride and groom. The tradition of pinning money (bills) has been around forever and was usually pinned on the bride’s veil or wedding dress. This is also a custom with other nationalities or countries.
A charivari is another custom that has fallen by the wayside, except on special occasions. This was the making of loud noise by banging pots and pans usually done on the wedding night of a widow, widower, ou à vieux garçon (old bachelor). The noise continued until the revelers were invited in for a meal.
Long ago when a girl rejected a suitor, she would send the unfortunate ex-boyfriend “a tiny coat, small enough to fit into an envelope and delivered by mail or by an acquaintance.” Back during that era, there was a popular Cajun French song that pertains to the above with the lyrics: “Ce n’est pas la bague j’ai regretté; c’était le capot que ma belle m’a donné.” You must admit the lyrics does have a lilt or lyrical sound to it which translates to: “It’s not the ring that I regretted; it is the coat my sweetheart gave me.” The above words, phrases, and customs were from “Cajun Sketches, from the Prairies of Southwest Louisiana” published in 1962 by Lauren C. Post, a native of Rayne.
Another long-lost custom that also pertains to Cajun music and bands is the custom when someone requested music to be played, the request was for a “round” of dances, which meant the musicians played the following dances in the following order: “a waltz, une valse a deux temps [two-step], a mazurka, [a lively Polish dance in triple time], and a polka” [originally a Czech dance that was said to be popular in all of Europe and the Americas.] After making the request, the couple were obligated to dance all four dances together. The above custom is from: “Tears, Love and Laughter: The Story of the Cajuns and Their Music” published in 1972 by Pierre V. Daigle of Pointe Noir.