Mr. and Mrs. Bobby Farmer (Betty Gary) celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on Monday, August 10. Married in 1970, the couple have two children, Dodie Albert and Brandon Farmer, six grandchildren, Drea, Demi, Dawson, Kinley, Gage and Kade and two great grandchildren, Tyler and Triston. The couple celebrated with family and friends.
ABBEVILLE — Funeral services will be held Thursday, August 13, 2020 at 3:00 p.m. at St. Theresa Catholic Church for Murphy Nicholas Joiner, 70, who died August 6, 2020 at Texoma Medical Center in Denison, TX.
Services conducted by Fr. François Sainte Marie.
Interment will be in St. Paul Cemetery.
He is survived by his wife, Doris Alexander Joiner; sons, Nicholas R. Joiner (Tonya) of Baton Rouge and Nekosi J. Nelson (Helynn) of Austin, TX; daughters, Nedge Nelson-Mamadou(Habib) of Dallas, TX, Jillian A. DeFils (Tehmi) of Lafayette, LA, and Faith R. Joiner of Dallas,TX; brothers, Cleveland Joiner (Joann) of Abbeville, LA and Lloyd Joiner Jr. (Shirley) of Lafayette, LA; grandchildren, Autumn Chassion, Sydney Nelson, Tehmi Chassion Jr., Milan Joiner, Sloan Nelson, and Summer Chassion; and a host of nieces, nephews, relatives and friends.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Lloyd and Louise Ruffin Joiner; brothers, Michael Joiner, and Lloyd E. Joiner and Phillip Joiner; and one sister, Ada M. Joiner Johnson.
Visitation will be held Thursday, August 13, 2020 at St. Theresa Catholic Church from 1:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m.
Sign the guestbook online at www.syriefh.com
Arrangements have been entrusted to Syrie Funeral Home, Inc. of Lafayette, LA.
Tommy Byler, shown interviewing for the superintendent job, was named the superintendent by a vote of 8-0.
The Vermilion Parish School Board voted 8-0 to name North Vermilion Principal Tommy Byler as the new superintendent.
Byler beat out interim superintendent Brad Prudhomme and assistant superintendent Paul Hebert.
The school board also named Byler as the interim superintendent until he and the school board agree on Byler’s contract.
During the interview process on Monday, school board member Dale Stelly asked Byler and the other two candidates why they wanted to be the new superintendent with the COVID-19 problems.
Byler said, “Mr. Dale, it is the time, and it is the opportunity. The pandemic, at some point, will go away. I feel like tonight is about selecting the best leader. After the past few years, we need a leader who will put the school system back on track.”
Byler thanked the school board members for taking “Step One,” which he said was the first step to “Vermilion, United.” He said by voting 8-0, it gives him hope that Vermilion Parish is beginning to unite.
“We have to get all hands on deck because we have 14 days (to the start of school),” Byler said.
Byler said he is not worried about going to work without a contract because the school system needs to hurry and get the children ready to start school. on Aug. 27. He plans to be at the central office this week.
He also told the board members that there would be times when they would disagree with him and vice versa, but as long as the school board puts the children first, “It is a win-win for Vermilion Parish.”
Bryan Alan Broussard Hood and Ellie Ann Boudreaux
Mr. and Mrs. John Russell Boudreaux Jr., Mr. Kirk John Hood and Mrs. Leslie Broussard Theriot are pleased to announce the engagement and forthcoming marriage of their daughter and son, Miss Ellie Ann Boudreaux of Abbeville, Louisiana to Mr. Bryan Alan Broussard Hood of Maurice, Louisiana.
Ellie is the daughter of John and Tricia Boudreaux of Abbeville, Louisiana and the granddaughter of the late Mr. Aubrey Neil Luquette and the late Mrs. Gloria Noel Luquette and Mr. John Russell Boudreaux Sr. and Mrs. Brenda Bernard Boudreaux all of Abbeville, Louisiana.
She is a 2013 graduate of Vermilion Catholic High School in Abbeville, Louisiana. She attended The University of Louisiana at Lafayette and received a Bachelor’s degree in 2018. She is currently employed by The Vermilion Parish School Board in Abbeville, Louisiana as an educator.
Bryan is the son of Mr. Kirk Hood of Donaldsonville, Louisiana and Mrs. Leslie Theriot and stepson of Mr. Rene Theriot of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and the grandson of Ms. Polly Johnson Broussard of Gonzales, Louisiana and the late Mr. Justin John Broussard Jr. of Abbeville, Louisiana and Mr. Tommy Hood and Mrs. Dorothy Caruso Hood of Donaldsonville, Louisiana.
He is a 2012 graduate of Dutchtown High School in Geismar, Louisiana. He attended The University of Louisiana at Lafayette and received a Bachelor’s degree in 2016. He is currently employed by Cal-Chlor Corporation.
The couple plan to exchange their vows during a ceremony on Saturday, October 24 at St. Mary Magdalen Roman Catholic Church in Abbeville, Louisiana.
Paislee Renee Lormand
A daughter, Paislee Renee Lormand, was born Friday, July 17, 2020, at Abbeville General to Mr. and Mrs. Trey Michael Lormand of Abbeville. The mother is the former Latesia Renee Miguez.
Kross Michael-Lynn Huntly
A son, Kross Michael-Lynn Huntly, was born Monday, August 3, 2020, at Abbeville General to Shlae Ruchelle Huntly of Abbeville.
Kymberly Faith Hudson
A daughter, Kymberly Faith Hudson, was born Thursday, August 6, 2020, at Abbeville General to Mr. and Mrs. Travis Lamount Hudson of Kaplan. The mother is the former Lucette Elizabeth Sellers.
October 6, 1930 ~ August 10, 2020
KAPLAN — A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:00 AM on Wednesday, August 12, 2020 at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church honoring the life of Velma M. Touchet, 89, who died Monday, August 10, 2020 at Kaplan Healthcare Center. She will be laid to rest at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Cemetery with Reverend Clint Trahan officiating the services.
She is survived by her two daughters, Kathy and her husband, Anthony "Fuzz" Fontenot of Kaplan and Kim and her husband, Raymond "Danny" Campbell of Carlyss; her ten grandchildren; her 13 great grandchildren; her two great-great grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 54 years, Eldridge J. Touchet; her two daughters, Peggy Girrard and Barbara Trahan; her grandson, Christopher Trahan; and her son-in-law, Russell Girrard.
The family requests that visiting hours be observed at Vincent Funeral Home - Kaplan, 300 N. Eleazar Ave., on Tuesday, August 11, 2020 from 5:00 PM until 9:00 PM with a rosary being prayed at 7:00 PM; Wednesday, August 12, 2020 from 9:00 AM until the procession departs for the church at 10:45 AM.
All funeral arrangements are being conducted by Vincent Funeral Home of Kaplan, (337) 643-7276 [Service Information 225-5276]. Condolences may be sent to the Touchet family at www.vincentfuneralhome.net.
LAFAYETTE – Earlier this morning, the Louisiana State Police Bureau of Investigations was requested by the Lafayette Police Department (LPD) to investigate an officer-involved shooting involving an LPD officer. Louisiana State Police is the lead investigating agency.
The preliminary investigation revealed that shortly after 5:00 a.m., officers with LPD responded to a citizen’s complaint related to a burglary in the area of Winnipeg Avenue. Upon arrival, an officer made contact with a suspect believed to be involved in the burglary. As the LPD officer attempted to place the suspect into custody, a physical altercation took place resulting in the officer discharging his weapon. The suspect was struck by gunfire and transported to a local hospital in stable condition. Two handguns were found in close proximity to the suspect. One of these weapons was consistent with a handgun taken in a burglary, moments before. No officers were injured.
Tina Marie Broussard has risen through the ranks of the registrar of voters’ office in the court house. She now sits behind the desk given to the Vermilion Parish registrar of voters. She is the first female in the parish to hold that title.
On Thursday, the Vermilion Parish Police Jury interviewed and then hired the new registrar of voters for the parish. It was also a historical hire.
The policy jury unanimously selected Tina Marie Broussard as the next registrar of voters. She is no stranger to the office.
For the last 22 years, she has worked in the registrar of voters office under two former registrar of voters, Jimmy Domingues and Mike Bertrand. She began working in the office as a green 17-year-old kid who needed a job to help her single mother pay bills, and at the same time, trying to save money to help purchase a car to go to college.
Since 1999, she has risen through the ranks of the office and learned everything there is to know about voting, signing up people to vote and helping run an election.
For the last three years, she had been the Chief Deputy Registrar under Bertrand. Bertrand officially retired on July 4, and Broussard took over as the interim registrar of voters.
The reason the hiring of Broussard was historical was because the former registrar of voters were men.
Broussard is the first female registrar of voter in Vermilion Parish. She now joins Diane Meaux Broussard (first female clerk of court in Vermilion Parish), Kathy Broussard (first female tax assessor in Vermilion Parish) and Linda Duhon (the first female Police Jury administrator).
When she reads the names on the list above, Broussard said she feels “surreal.”
“I feel so surreal, there are no words to describe it,” said Broussard. “To think when I started as a 17-year-old student worker who knew nothing to where I am now. It’s just unreal. I am very humbled that it was a unanimous vote. “
She is also confident she can do the job.
“I guess with any new position, you can be a little nervous because you want to be the best at your job,” said Broussard. “But I do have faith and confidence in myself that I am the most qualified person for this job. I definitely feel I will do great things for the voters of Vermilion Parish.”
The Registrar of Voters is responsible for the registration of voters in the parish and for the administration and enforcement of laws, rules and regulations relating to the registration of voters, according to the Louisiana Election Code. The Registrar is also responsible for conducting Early-Voting and Absentee-Voting.
A telehealth system being designed in the College of Nursing and Allied Health Professions will enable faculty members and students to assist overburdened medical professionals working in emergency rooms and urgent care clinics. The network is being implemented through a $271,850 grant from the Federal Communications Commission. (Photo credit: Doug Dugas / University of Louisiana at Lafayette)
The College of Nursing and Allied Health Professions at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette is developing a telehealth network designed to ease workloads of health care professionals in emergency rooms and urgent care clinics.
Faculty members and students will help hospitals and physicians screen people with COVID-19. The system will also enable the college’s nurse practitioners to diagnose and provide treatment plans for patients with less serious conditions, such as viral infections or sinusitis, for example.
The college received a $271,850 grant from the Federal Communications Commission as part of its COVID-19 Telehealth Program. A total of $200 million is being distributed to hospitals, medical clinics and universities.
Dr. Ziad Ashkar, who is leading the UL Lafayette project, said faculty members, and students studying to become nurse practitioners, will provide services such as health screenings, create medical charts and offer referrals.
Ashkar directs the University’s Louisiana Center for Health Innovation. A professor in the College of Nursing and Allied Health Professions, Ashkar is the Dr. J. Robert Rivet Endowed Chair and the Acadian Ambulance Service/BORSF Eminent Scholar Endowed Chair in Health Informatics.
“Emergency services aren’t possible with telehealth, but you can gauge symptoms, make diagnoses, and offer guidance. In some cases, nurse practitioners will be able to write prescriptions,” Ashkar explained.
“In more serious cases, we can work with medical partners in the community to coordinate care based on the medical information that has been gathered remotely,” he added.
Dr. Deedra Harrington, coordinator of the college’s BSN program and an associate professor, said once the system is in place, students will be able to gain clinical experience in telemedicine.
“Our nurse practitioner students will work with patients, and collaborate with a faculty member on treatment plans. Undergraduates will be able to assist in capacities such as gathering information or scheduling appointments,” Harrington said.
Dr. Christy Lenahan, an associate professor who coordinates the college’s nurse practitioner program, said telehealth has steadily gained in popularity in recent years. The pandemic, however, has made remote visits the primary way patients see physicians.
“We want our students thoroughly prepared in the case of another pandemic. Everyone hopes that won’t happen. But even so, many patients and health care providers will prefer telehealth from now on, especially for chronic conditions that don’t require office visits,” Lenahan said.
The University is in the process of implementing the telehealth system. As part of the grant, the College of Nursing and Allied Health Professions will receive devices such as tablet computers that will facilitate telehealth appointments.
It will also enable a private company to provide telecommunications, and develop a system that will house information such as medical records, and administrative, clinical, financial and insurance data.
Faculty members are also working on a system for appointment scheduling to accommodate as many patients as possible. The grant will enable the service to be free, initially.
Jim Davidson
Some time back a friend told me a funny story about his wife that was so good that I wanted to share it with you. He said that one day he came home from a meeting and got the shock of his life. His wife told him that she had just returned from the liquor store.
There were two primary reasons why he was so shocked. First, they live in a dry county and the nearest liquor store is in Palarm, about 15 miles away on the Faulkner-Pulaski County line. Next, he teaches a couples Sunday school class and, needless to say, for his wife to be seen going in or coming out of a liquor store would not be a good witness for the Lord.
However, he gave her credit. She took great precaution and planned it out very carefully. She did not have much pocket money, so she went to the bank to get cash so she would not have to give the liquor store a check. She also took the back way in the hopes that no one would see her van, as it has a paint job that sticks out like a sore thumb and everyone knows and can spot it a mile away. At this point she told him the rest of the story. Because of some problems that she has been having with her arm, a medical diagnosis had revealed that she might have a slight case of arthritis. One of her friends told her that Paul Harvey had been touting a concoction of gin and white raisins as something that could help to relieve the pain. Not to leave you hanging, you mix a pint of gin with a box of white raisins and then stir it once a day for nine days. When this process is complete, you eat 10 raisins each day until they are all gone.
Because of this conversation we were both laughing and it reminded me of the fellow who had a race horse. At least he thought it was a race horse. However, when he got his horse out and ran him around the track he would just barely get out of a slow lope. Then the man remembered reading somewhere that you could dope up a race horse and he would run one last dying race -- he would really move out. At this point the man got to thinking about what kind of dope to use. He finally decided to use a little “white lightning”, which is to say a little moonshine whiskey. It took some doing, but he finally got about a pint down his horse’s throat.
About a week later he was telling a friend about the race. He said, “I wish you could have been there to see my horse run. They shot the gun and he bolted out of the gate, his tail was sticking straight out, his ears were back and when he came around the final turn dust was flying and rocks were breaking out windshields.” This fella said, “Well, did your horse win?” This man said, “No-o-o, my horse didn’t win, but he’s the happiest loser you ever saw.”
My friend concluded his story by saying, “In a way this story kind of applies to my wife. We can’t tell whether or not the gin-spiked raisins are helping her arthritis but I can tell you this for sure, she is happier than she has ever been.” Not long after this experience, I told this story at a Chamber of Commerce banquet and a lady said to me after the meeting, “I don’t know if you were watching my husband or not, but he was laughing so hard that he almost fell out of his chair.”
In the Bible we read in Proverbs 17:22: “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.” In my opinion, we all need to have a good laugh from time to time and really enjoy life. I hope you are not like another lady who came up to me after another speaking engagement and said, “ I want you to know that while you were telling some of those stories, I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing.”
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(Editor’s Note: This is one of the columns in Jim’s new book “Better than the Best.” For a personally signed copy, send $20 (includes postage and handling) to Jim Davidson, 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034).
318 N. Main St.
Abbeville, LA 70510
Phone: 337-893-4223
Fax: 337-898-9022
219 North Cushing Avenue
Kaplan, LA 70548