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Bernice Marie Peltier Harang was always a lady, according to family and friends.
During her late husband’s 20-year tenure as Thibodaux’s mayor, Mrs. Harang was at his side. But politics was his thing; her time was dedicated to raising the couple’s nine children.
“Pressed and polished in the suits she wore so well, it was poise, grace and confidence she wore best,” Warren Harang III said of his mother in a final tribute. “For those who knew her personally, she was a lady in everything she did.”
Mrs. Harang died Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014, at age 90. She is mourned by her children, Mary Margaret Dufrene, Warren III, Bee Talbot, Sally Naquin, Jane Bicknell, Bryan and Ben Harang, Susan Savoie and Carolyn Winder, as well as 23 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren, one step-great-grandchild and one great-great-grandchild.
The only daughter and second of five children born to Harvey Andrew and May Ayo Peltier, Mrs. Harang grew up in Thibodaux. She graduated from Ursuline High School in New Orleans in 1940 and Ursuline College in 1944 with a degree in sociology.
By then, she and Warren J. Harang Jr. were dating. The pair met through family acquaintances and soon became an item. The couple wed May 24, 1945, after Warren returned from his service in World War II for an eight-day furlough.
“She loved my dad dearly,” Warren III recalled. Her first love, he said, was her father, an “up the bayou” man. Warren Jr. was her second, the guy from “down the bayou.”
Children soon arrived and kept coming.
“They never had to say another child was on the way,” Warren III said. “The contractors would show up and start adding onto the house, and we knew another baby was coming.”
Bernice Harang’s greatest gift, her children agree, was her ability to make each child feel singularly like the most important person in the world.
“She had a way of devoting all of her attention to you in a single moment, when surely so many others were also on her mind,” Warren III said in his eulogy. “She truly cared about what was happening in your life.”
Handwritten letters to camp and, later, college, kept each of the children informed and served as reminders that mama was thinking of them.
And despite all the activity that accompanies a family – especially one where dad oversees the town and nine children and their friends keep the household busy – dinners were served promptly at 6 p.m. around the big round table on Elder Street. Schedules were arranged to accommodate mealtime.
“That was where court was held,” Warren III said. “If you’d done anything during the course of the day, momma and dad knew. They had a direct line between each other and they both were great communicators. Whatever you did, you knew it was going to be discussed openly.”
The experience proved to be a great eye-opener for Warren III and his siblings. “A lot of times, you never made the same mistake twice because you didn’t want to have to go through that again.”
To keep up with her busy brood, Mrs. Harang created a “checkout” pad, which she kept near the front door, to track the children’s whereabouts.
“Long before there was GPS, she knew where we were at all times,” Sally said, laughing.
Mrs. Harang was an adventurer at heart, often taking brief treks with her children to New Orleans or, on occasion, New York City. She served as tour-guide, showing her young ones the sights and taking in a Broadway show.
More often, she’d load the children and their friends in the station wagon and head to the family camp in Grand Isle for two weeks at a time.
“Those were the best times, the best trips,” Sally said. “We’d have so much fun. She loved being surrounded by all of us.”
“We had her for a long time,” Warren III said of his mother. “After it’s all over, I realize I’m not quite as ready as I thought I was for her to be gone.”
Bernice Marie Peltier Harang (seated, second from right) is pictured with her children (first row, from left) Bee Talbot, Mary Margaret Dufrene, Carolyn Winder, (second row, from left) Ben Harang, Bryan Harang, Warren Harang III, Jane Bicknell, Sally Naquin and Susan Savoie.
