Longtime teacher remembered for his wit, love for others

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Reader: Time for incumbents to go
October 28, 2014
Drainage relief sought for Houma’s Sylvia Street area
October 28, 2014

On the top wall of Dennis Duet’s classroom at Golden Meadow Junior High School sat a small, simple sign that contained a basic math equation.

It always caught the eye of any first-timer in his classroom. It said: 2+2=5.

To most, the equation seemed like shoddy math, because, of course, we all know that it’s pretty basic to add two and two together to get four and not five.


But to anyone who knew Duet, it all added up and made perfect sense with just a little thought and a big of an open mind.

You see, in Cajun French, saying the problem aloud meant saying the words, “deux, et, deux” (translated literally as two and two).

But because some French speakers use the word “et” a second literal meaning for the number “one.” Duet was always happy to explain to those who questioned the sign that all he heard when the problem was spoken in French was “two, one, two,” which, of course, had to equal to five.


Always a jokester, always a family man and always one who loved to teach others the knowledge he knew, Duet passed away unexpectedly on Oct. 17 after a heart attack. The Larose resident and Golden Meadow native was 67. Duet was survived by his wife Jan, children Troy and Nicole Legendre; four siblings and two grandchildren – people that were a huge part of his world, according to everyone who knew the former school teacher who shared his intellect for 33 years in our area.

“My father was an extraordinary man,” said Duet’s daughter Nicole Legendre. “He loved like no other human being I’ve ever met. He loved his family with all he had. He was the one who had to kiss everyone he knew to tell them hello or goodbye. He always told his family members he loved them after every phone conversation he had with them. … He was always making people laugh and testing them just to make them smile.”

For Duet, being around loved ones were a huge source of his joy. That, and being out on a trawl boat somewhere testing his luck on the water in an effort to bring shrimp or fish to his friends and family.


Duet’s brother Clyde said he remembers a time when he and Dennis were the small children of Cliff and Lena Duet. Dennis was the fifth of six children in the family.

Because mom left the house to become a full-time deckhand on dad’s boat, Clyde Duet said he and Dennis spent a lot of their childhood raising themselves without much adult supervision.

Clyde said it was then that his brother developed his loving personality and his desire to help others.


“He, like me, was just a kid at the time, but I will always remember how we had to mature fast and his sincere caring about me,” Clyde remembered. “He took care of his baby brother, as he would always call me, and taught me a lot of things. We did and learned everything together. He was my best friend. … I looked up to him and wanted to be just like him.”

Trawling and being outdoors were a huge part of Dennis’ life. Even while being a teacher, Duet would hit the water on the weekends in the summertime and even sometimes at night after school during the academic year – anything to be on the water.

Legendre said her father didn’t do it for the money. He did it because it was his passion. He shared that love with Legendre and her brother Troy Duet – always taking them on the water for trips throughout their childhood.


“Trawling was his passion,” she said.

Knowing that, it’s only fitting that Dennis Duet would meet his love while on the water. Clyde Duet said that his brother met his wife Jan as the two cleaned the hull of their dad’s boat.

And it was love at first sight. Dennis and Jan were married 45 years.


“It wasn’t long after that (first meeting) that Dennis told me he intended on marrying that wonderful, beautiful girl,” Clyde Duet remembered. “When T-Dan put something in his head, he wouldn’t back off. … He did marry her, was married 45 years, and they had two children.”

After retiring as a teacher in 2002, the last decade of Duet’s life was spent as a grandfather – maybe the favorite job of his life.

Legendre said her first child was born in 2001 – a baby girl named Morgan. In 2008, she gave birth to a boy named Mason.


The daughter said some of the fondest memories of her dad were those images of her children lighting up when seeing their grandfather.

As Morgan and Mason grew older, Duet became known for taking his grandbabies with him wherever he went. He’d always wear a baseball cap with the two youngsters’ pictures airbrushed on the front.

“Those two kids were his pride and joy,” Legendre said.


A loving family man, a dedicated teacher for three decades and an outdoorsman who loved to teach the next generation math.

Does two and two truly equal five? Maybe, maybe not.

But by all accounts, Dennis Duet equaled a heck of a man.


Golden Meadow native Dennis Duet always loved his family. Pictured with his wife Jan and two children, Troy and Nicole, the former teacher passed away on Oct. 17 after a heart attack. 

 

COURTESY PHOTO