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ERATH — A Mass of Christian Burial for Elita Ruth Mergist Landry, 85, was held at 11:00AM Monday, August 31, 2020 at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church with Father Bill Melancon officiating. Mrs. Landry's grandson, Drew Hoffpauir was the vocalist for the mass. Interment followed at Our Lady of Lourdes Cemetery.
Visitation was held at David Funeral Home of Erath Monday, August 31, 2020 from 9:00AM until service time with a rosary at 10:00AM.
Elita Mergist Landry, known to all as “Ruth”, was born a twin, on Marsh Island in May of 1935. She was a resident of Erath and passed away after a 7 year battle with Alzheimer’s Disease, at her residence on Saturday August 29th, surrounded by her loving family. Her husband of 67 years, her 6 children, 13 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren were her world. She had a love of life and people, was admired and loved by many, as she spent her life serving others. Ruth, a devout Catholic, was a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Daughters in Erath and shared her faith as a catechism teacher for years. She was also a member of the Henry Busy Bees, a group of homemakers who participated in many community events associated with the Vermilion Association for Family and Community Education, Inc.. Ruth was employed by Vermilion Parish School Board as a bus driver for 20 years. She enjoyed decorating for and celebrating every holiday with her grandchildren, looked forward to lots of laughs with her monthly pokeno group and monthly get togethers with her EHS Class of ‘53 high school best friends, had a passion for cooking, baking, writing, and reading anything she could get her hands on. She loved tulips, working cross word puzzles, and watching all murder mystery TV shows. Ruth was most dedicated to and adored her family above all.
She is survived by her husband of 67 years; Calvin Louis Landry of Erath; son, Brandon Louis Landry and companion Demi of Erath; daughters, Vanessa Granger and husband Patrick of Abbeville, Lorraine Broussard and husband Joe of Abbeville, Robin Foreman of Erath, Rachel Hoffpauir of Erath, and Allison Migues and husband Shane of Erath; brothers, Adam Benny Mergist and wife Dorothy of Erath and Bradley Mergist and wife Barbara Erath; sisters, Connie LeBlanc and husband Francis of Henry and Genevieve Touchet and husband Timothy of Delcambre; 13 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren.
She is preceded in death by her parents; Adam and Eunite Hebert Mergist; brother, Paul Sullivan Mergist; sisters, Emily Mergist, Georgia Mergist and Annette Benoit; son-in-law Joel Hoffpauir and a grandchild Jeramy Granger.
Serving as her Pallbearers were Jacob Broussard, Zachary Broussard, Dylon Hoffpauir, Drake Hoffpauir, Dax Hoffpauir, and Tristan Migues.
Serving as her Honorary Pallbearers were Drew Hoffpauir, and Cooper Migues.
In lieu of flowers please make a donation to the Diabetes Association.
Condolences may be shared with the family at www.davidfuneralhome.org
“In order to help keep the community safe we will honor the July 13, 2020 Louisiana Mandates.  All families and their guests are required to wear a face covering while at the funeral home. Thank you for your understanding during this unprecedented time.” 
David Funeral Home of Erath is in charge of arrangements 209 E. Putnam St. Erath, LA 70533 (337) 937-0405.

BATON ROUGE — Gov. John Bel Edwards has signed an executive order that extends Phase 2 and the statewide mask mandate, closure of bard to on-sited consumption and gathering size limits in Louisiana.
This extension is set to expire on Sept. 11.
Edwards said White House officials approved his decision to maintain the restrictions.
“Louisiana has seen improvement in slowing the spread of COVID-19, and this would not be possible without the hard work of the people of Louisiana who have faithfully followed the mitigation measures, including wearing their masks when in public,” said Edwards. “While we have seen drops in hospitalizations and new COVID-19 cases, we also know that we have more people moving around because of schools and colleges going back to in-person classes, which is one of the reasons we will stay in Phase 2 for another two weeks.
“The White House Coronavirus Task Force also continues to recommend that Louisiana keep its current mitigation measures in place, as Louisiana remains in the red zone for new cases and many of our parishes continue to have testing positivity rates higher than 10 percent.”
Many business owners and Republican politicians have urged Edwards to loosen the restrictions, citing the economic damage. Many restaurants, for example, have trouble sustaining their business while limited to 50 percent capacity.
Business owners have filed lawsuits seeking to lift some or all of the restrictions. Bar owners in particular have said it is unfair their line of work is being singled out, especially if no COVID-19 cases have been traced to their establishments.
But state and federal public health officials say barrooms are hot spots for coronavirus transmission, which is why closing them is considered a best practice in states like Louisiana with high rates of COVID-19.
COVID-19 testing sites in Louisiana were shut down due to Tropical Storm Marco and Hurricane Laura. It takes about two weeks before a change in public behavior is reflected in the COVID-19 statistics, so Louisiana officials haven’t yet been able to measure the impact of reopening K-12 schools, colleges and universities.
“We’re basically going to be blind for this week,” Edwards said.
Counting students, staff and faculty, schools make up about 25 percent of the state’s population, Edwards said.
Though most schools are teaching at least partially online, a significant proportion of the state’s population potentially have come in contact with each other for the first time since campuses were closed in March, he said.
Southwest Louisiana has the highest COVID-19 positivity rate in the state, Edwards said. Thousands of people from the region are evacuating and may not return for some time, which creates additional risk.
“The prudent thing is to go two more weeks and then do an analysis of where we are,” he said.
Recent reports have indicated modest but steady improvement in the state’s case counts, positivity rates and number of people hospitalized.
But Louisiana as a whole over the past week has had more than 100 new cases per 100,000 residents, which puts the state in the “red” according to federal standards. About half of the state’s parishes also are considered red, Edwards said.
Attorney General Jeff Landry, after initially supporting Edwards’ actions, has said the governor has overstepped his authority, though four court rulings have upheld the restrictions.

Funeral Services will be held at 2:00 PM on Monday, August 31, 2020 in Delhomme Funeral Home - Maurice, for Eve Denais Bourque, 94, who passed away on August 23, 2020, at her residence.
Fr. Paul Bienvenu, Pastor of St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, will conduct the funeral services.
Burial will take place in Leblanc Catholic Cemetery.
Mrs. Bourque, a resident of Covington, was the daughter of the late Jacque Denais and the former Editha Simon.
She is survived by her daughters, Dianna Bourque Risher (Ernie) and Brenda Bourque Graham (Jay); granddaughter, Amy Risher McCance (Lee); two great-granddaughters, Haley and Camille McCance; nephews, James, Carl and Lester Denais; and niece, Hope Denais Landry. She is also survived by her sister-in-law, Velma Bourque Williams.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 58 years, Jean "SueSue" Bourque; her parents, Jacque and Editha Denais; and her siblings, Dalton Denais, Joseph Denais and Mary Rose Denais Bourque and her best friend and companion of many years, Luke Bourque.
The family requests that visiting hours be observed at Delhomme Funeral Home on Monday, August 31, 2020 from 12:00 PM until 2:00 PM.
Pallbearers will be her family and friends.
Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, the family requests that State recommendations regarding wearing masks and maintaining social distancing be observed throughout the visitation and service.
Personal condolences may be sent to the Bourque family at www.delhommefuneralhome.com.
Delhomme Funeral Home, 200 Chief H. Fred Road, Maurice, LA is in charge of funeral arrangements.

BATON ROUGE — In a letter to President Donald Trump, Gov. John Bel Edwards today requested a major disaster declaration for 23 parishes in Louisiana impacted by Hurricane Laura which, if approved, would bring FEMA assistance to affected individuals and communities. At least ten people have died in Louisiana following the storm, with many thousands more suffering damage to their homes and businesses.
“Hurricane Laura is the fifth strongest storm to make landfall in the United States in recorded history and the first in memory to maintain major hurricane strength as it traveled through Louisiana, bringing catastrophic destruction to many parishes and, sadly, causing the deaths of at least six people in our state,” Gov. Edwards said. “Our people are strong and we will get through these trying times, and a major disaster declaration is the first step in bringing critical aid to our communities. I appreciate the President’s consideration of my request and for the support of the federal government as Louisiana responds not only to this disastrous storm, but also to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is complicating our traditional Hurricane Season plans.”
Hurricane Laura made landfall in Louisiana on Thursday, August 27 at 1 a.m. in Cameron Parish as a strong Category 4 hurricane, bringing with it severe storm surge and damaging winds. In addition, Louisiana prepared for and was impacted by Hurricane Marco days before and is in the midst of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Gov. Edwards declared a state of emergency statewide on August 21 in advance of Hurricane Marco and Hurricane Laura.
The Governor is requesting all categories of FEMA Public Assistance (for governmental and public entities) and FEMA Individual Assistance (for people impacted by the storm) for the 23 parishes directly in path of Hurricane Laura and their residents. He is also requesting Category B FEMA Public Assistance (for governmental and public entities) statewide for parishes to address the cost of their preparations and response.
The 23 most impacted parishes are: Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Jefferson Davis, Acadia, Vermilion, Catahoula, Grant, LaSalle, Natchitoches, Rapides, Sabine, Vernon, Winn, Bienville, Claiborne, Red River, Caldwell, Jackson, Lincoln, Ouachita and Union.
Yesterday, Gov. Edwards traveled to Southwest Louisiana to survey storm damage in Calcasieu, Cameron and Vermilion parishes. Today, he traveled to Central Louisiana and North Louisiana to further survey storm damage, as Hurricane Laura retained strength and wind speed as the storm traveled through Louisiana.
As of 9 a.m. on Friday, August 28, there were more than 543,000 power outages in Louisiana, stretching from Southwest Louisiana through the central part of the state to North Louisiana. Another 209,000 residents are affected by water outages and many thousands more are displaced from their homes.