Marie Joyce Broussard Monceaux

LAKE ARTHUR - As we sit here, pondering the life of Marie Joyce Broussard Monceaux, who passed peacefully into the evening of Thursday, March 26, 2020, a thought comes to mind, over and over again. Eulogies of officials, soldiers, doctors, lawyers, business leaders and many others, all but compose themselves from resumes plush with notable accomplishments. But the life of a simple woman from a small community on a winding bayou in the south of Louisiana has no written ledger to draw upon. No such list of noted accomplishments. Her life speaks to us in other ways.

It tells the story of the life of a child who came into the world nearly 100 years ago, a world so different from what we see today; one without electricity, or radio, or television, or running water, or refrigeration, or heating or air conditioning. A time of wood-fired stoves in kitchens, mule teams in fields, horse and buggy on dirt roads and pirogues and skiffs on the water. A time when sailing vessels still plied coastal ports of Southwest Louisiana. A time and place when Cajun French was common and English rarely heard.

How, as a young girl, she attended grade school and worked family cotton fields on the marsh ridges south of Kaplan. How she must have felt when her father moved his family of seven away from a life near grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and friends to one remotely located on a live oak-crowned marsh island on the northern edge of Grand Lake. Or, how she filled with excitement when, as a young teenager, she and her older brother would cross marshland on horseback in order to reach high ground and his Ford Model T, for the 15-mile drive to the dance to meet her best friend, a friend who would one day become her sister-in-law.

It explains how much she loved her new husband that cool Nov. 4, 1939, when she promised to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part. How she worked to make a home from a simple oneroom house on the banks of the Intercoastal Waterway, while her loving husband tried to scrape together a living farming the nearby flood-prone fields and trapping the expansive marshes. It unveils the elation in her heart as she watched her family grow, by one son in August of 1940 and by one more in May of 1942. It strives to help us feel the pain as childhood illnesses, oh too common in that day, took her children away. The first in June of 1942, the last in April of 1944. Can we ever hope to understand how her faith allowed her to endure such pain, often alone, with her husband stationed in the South Pacific? How she persevered without bitterness, without resentment and withdrawal, without loss of faith. How that same faith gave her strength to move forward, to begin a family anew. And how she prayed, oh so often, to the Virgin Mary and dedicated her life and that of each coming child to Christ, if only he would protect them.

How the mid-50s saw her life change as the family, now at five, left farming and moved to Lake Arthur to own and operate a small family grocery initially stocked from the sale of mink trapped in the Louisiana marshlands she left behind. How this still young couple were not only husband and wife but true business partners, working side by side for long hours, for days on end, turning the small country food store into a thriving business.

How she could have felt when, at age 47, she learned that she and her husband were to be blessed with a sixth child. A daughter that would be brought into the world despite the revelation of Rh factor incompatibility, a medical issue that made the birth and survival of her children near miraculous.

It tells how she lived those words in her wedding vows, sitting at her waning husband’s bedside for months, until they were parted by his death.

How her life transitioned from motherhood and wife to grandmother, neighbor and friend, enjoying the little things, like Friday evening junkets for Sonic burgers with a friend. How she revived her quilting skills, harking back to her youth at the feet of her grandmothers, ultimately inspiring the art in her family.

How she traveled across this great country, spending cherished time with her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. How at age 88 she fulfilled a dream, venturing to “Acadie,” walking the fields her ancestors plowed and the rivers and bays they fished near Port Royal and the forests they hunted near Chipody. A lifestyle not so different than the one she was born into. How she witnessed the stockades and prisons that held them until they were released to lead the founding settlers of the Atakapa region of Southwest Louisiana…Cajun Country.

How, through all of this, she never lost her wonderful sense of humor, her welcoming smile, her ever present laugh, her love of family and friends. How, till her final days, she received every friend, every caregiver, every visitor with a simple message from a simple woman…”I love you.”

Now, the portrait of her life is complete, a work of exquisite art that will hang in the galleries of our minds and our hearts until we meet again.

She is survived by her children Herman (Michelle) of Lake Charles, Jenelle (Will Fontenot) of Lake Arthur, Dale (Anne Louise) of Loveland, Ohio, and Jackie Valdetero (John) of Abbeville; her 14 grandchildren, Bennett, and Brandon Monceaux, Andrea M. Ward, Paytra and Coltra Thibodeaux, Genevieve M. Smith, Adam, Alex, and Catherine Monceaux, and Audrey and Lance Cpl. Nick Valdetero, USMC; and 13 great-grandchildren, David and Cameron Monceaux, Adrienne, Elizabeth, and Joseph Ward, Eibhlin and Keating Monceaux, Zoe and Ethan Missar and Harper and Alex Smith, Gregory and Dylan Colson, Emma Grace; and her canine companion, Missy.

Joyce was preceded in death by her husband, Chester; her sons, Bennett and Norman; her parents, Phillipe and Agnes Broussard; sister, Loudia Boudreaux; brothers, Louis and Phillipe Broussard, Jr.; and son-in-law, Robert P. Thibodeaux.

The family wishes to express our sincerest gratitude to Earline LaDelle for the love and care given to our mother.

Due to the restrictions of the COVID-19 virus, the family will hold a celebration of Joyce’s life as soon as possible and all are encouraged to attend once the conditions are deemed safe.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Our Lady of the Lake Church Ladies Altar Society in Lake Arthur.

Words of comfort may be expressed to the family at www.miguezfuneralhome.com.