Princess Power
December 9, 2015
Loretia Plemons
December 9, 2015
Give Sarah Eymard a deck of cards and a couple friends, and she’d give you back a good time that would last for hours upon end.
She was a people person – a woman who loved to talk. Everyone who encountered her knew about both she and her family immediately – because she talked to everyone she met.
Eymard was a loving mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She valued education and knowledge – so much so that she earned her GED as an adult and took pride in the fact that both her daughter and granddaughter became teachers in the Lafourche Parish School System.
Eymard passed away at home on Dec. 1 after a lengthy illness. She was 88. Those who knew her best remember all the joyous moments, touting that she lived a life worth celebrating and rejoicing.
“We will remember Maw Maw as a wonderful woman who was outspoken and loving,” granddaughter Chantel Pitre said. “She will be forever missed, but God gave her a wonderful, adventurous life during which she was loved by many, as well as, she was able to give love to many.”
Sarah was married as a teenager – a time when she met the love of her life.
No one in the family can recollect how she met her husband Collin Eymard, but the bond they shared was special. The two were married for 51 years before Collin passed away, but family says the love the two shared was ever-lasting.
The couple raised three children – one daughter and two sons.
“In her heart, she was married for 71 years, because she wore her wedding ring until the day that she died,” daughter Beverly Chouest said. “Meeting is nothing compared to living together in love for decades.”
Sarah was the type of mom who always wanted to express her love and support in the form of hugs and kisses. She expected one of each anytime someone walked into a room. She later evolved and became the same type of grandmother and then great-grandmother. She was loving, but firm and pushed everyone in her close family to do their absolute best to use school to create a better life.
“She was extremely loving and supporting,” Chantel said. “She expected hugs and kisses from all her babies each time they were in her presence. … Education was important to her. She was proud to say that her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren were high school graduates, graduates of some type of higher education and college graduates. She was extremely proud to say that she had many schoolteachers in her immediate and extended family.
“She strongly believed in working and getting an education to make your life better.”
When not at the family’s home helping create a home for Collin and the kids, Sarah was a working woman. She’s been employed at various places in south Lafourche throughout her life.
Chantel said her grandmother worked at John L. Guidry’s store and also Ledet’s Supermarket and Guidry’s Motors.
For some, work is difficult to get used to, but for Sarah, it was never a bother. She was around people, and that all made it OK.
“She enjoyed working because she was always dealing with the public,” Chantel said.
When not on the 9-to-5 grind, Eymard was an active member and former president of both the Galliano Ladies American Legion Auxiliary Post 315 and the Third District Auxiliary.
The American Legion gig made Sarah a traveling woman, and it fit her well because she loved to travel. She did so flanked with Collin and sister Marcia Davis by her side.
“She enjoyed those times,” Chantel said.
And then there were the cards.
Everyone around Sarah states that playing cards was her favorite pastime.
“The greatest fun she had was while doing that,” Chantel said. “That was her favorite pastime.
She played Booray with the Larose Senior Citizens. On weekends, she’d play Pedro, Rummy, UNO, Sorry and whatever else with friends, children and grandchildren. She also was a member of a Pokeno Club, which met once a month for a night of fun.
As Sarah got older, her health started to decline. As it became obvious that she didn’t have much time left to live, the woman had one wish – to go to Heaven while surrounded by friends and family.
She got her wish, passing away peacefully while holding the hands of Beverly and Chantel, who had tended to Sarah for the past five years.
“She was determined to return home where she wanted to be at the end,” Chantel said. “We were able to hold her hands and help her walk into the gates of Heaven. All her life, she always got what she wanted, and she was able to do that until the very end.” •
Sarah Eymard was a family woman who loved to show her support through hugs and kisses. Family remembers remember Eymard as a woman who enjoyed to talk, loved all people and was a warm mother and grandmother. She passed away this past week at the age of 88.
