Festivals abound in October
October 19, 2011
Grand Réveil Acadien!
October 19, 2011
Two-month-old Adelynn Nicole Naquin will not remember her father or great-grandfather, but she is certain to know the duo that family members say were as much alike as any grandfather and grandson could be.
Adelynn’s father, Mark Anthony Naquin, 22, of Houma, who was killed in an industrial accident while working his shift as a fitter at Gulf Island Fabrication, had taken his grandfather’s death hard.
Naquin also took delight in the life of his newborn daughter and anticipated the establishment of his own household through marriage to his fiance, Nicole Marie Guy, on Nov. 11.
Only two weeks before his own death, Naquin’s grandfather, Sterling “Pingo” Authement, 73, of Chauvin, died of a heart attack while operating his shrimp boat, which then crossed into the path of a larger vessel and was demolished near the confluence of Bayou Little Caillou and the Houma Navigational Canal.
Roxanna Marie Authement Naquin LeBoeuf lost both her father and her son within one month. She had lost her first husband, Randy Joseph Naquin, in 2000 when he was just 40 years old.
As LeBoeuf held her granddaughter and sat with her son’s bride-to-be Sunday, the second day following Mark Naquin’s funeral, she and Guy confirmed that they are still family and determined to stick together.
“They were both born on the same day, March 17,” LeBoeuf said of her father and son. “And they were just alike. They always had a smile and would do anything for their families.”
Guy and LeBoeuf said both men were dedicated to the people they loved, believed in working hard and enjoyed a practical joke. Naquin proposed to Guy at the Grand Canyon and was equipped with a fake ring he intended to accidently drop into the depths of that national attraction. “I think he forgot,” Guy said. “He told me about it later.”
“I wanted [Mark] to have a life and someone who loved him,” LeBoeuf said as she and Guy recalled the young couple’s meeting and two-year courtship.
Naquin and Guy had just purchased a home and were making plans for themselves and their infant daughter. Those plans dramatically changed. Those changes failed to distract this family from recognizing what they have in one another.
“When tragedy strikes it either pulls us together or pulls us apart,” Houma First United Methodist Church Pastor Rev. Don Ross said after being told of the Naquin family gathering. “When one family member is concerned about helping the other, it pulls them closer together. We may not understand everything that is going on [and] don’t understand how, but faith helps us know we will be made stronger.”
Guy and LeBoeuf confirmed that out of their experience they have learned more about themselves and are certain to be stronger. “Live life to the fullest and make no regrets,” Guy said.
Mark Naquin’s godchild, 5-year-old Peyton Pellegrin described Naquin as “the funniest adult” she knows. “He always swung me around,” she said.
“[Adelynn] is a part of [Mark and Pingo],” LeBoeuf said. “Their lives go on through her for another generation.”
Her father and great-grandfather are two family members Adelynn Nicole Naquin’s relatives are determined she know.
Nicole Guy and Roxanna LeBoeuf, holding two-month-old Adelynn Naquin, say families that genuinely care about one another are brought closer through tragedy only because each individual is more concerned about the other family members than their own needs. MIKE NIXON
