Community leader led by example, spoke with conviction
May 20, 2015
1990 to NOW
May 21, 2015
Houma’s Barrios family is still “astonished” that is the Louisiana State Council KC Family of the Year.
Darryl and Anne Barrios, son Dylan and twin girls Kathy and Jenny are still almost speechless at the news. The announcement came earlier this month at the Knights of Columbus 110th convention in Baton Rouge. The Barrios’ were selected among 312 nominees.
The family’s long list of accomplishments reflects their strong commitment to church and community with an emphasis on helping others.
“As a family, we are most proud of this honor,” Kathy, 15, said.
Darryl, who works as a concierge travel planner, joined the Knights of Columbus in 1998. He was the Grand Knight of the Archbishop Joseph F Rummel Council No. 5747 in Chalmette when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, flooding St. Bernard Parish.
Even though Darryl’s own family had to evacuate to Bayou L’Ourse, he still helped locate most of the council’s membership. Sadly, he also had to attend several funerals of members who lost their lives in that storm.
Darryl moved the family to Houma in 2006 when Anne got a job teaching at Houma Junior High School.
That’s when he joined Immacolata Council No. 13819, where he now serves as treasurer.
After nine years, Anne made the switch from HJH to Terrebonne High School, where she teaches chemistry and AP biology. Jenny and Kathy currently attend the junior high, and 18-year-old Dylan just finished his first year at the University of Southern Mississippi where he is majoring in music education.
Dylan is following in dad’s footsteps, serving as both a parishioner and volunteer at St Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in Hattiesburg.
The entire family is actively involved with Maria Immacolata Catholic Church. Singing in the choir, teaching CCD, coordinating the parish altar server program, being ushers, commentators and lectors are just some of the duties they perform. All the children have also been altar servers.
As a group, the Barrios’ have much to celebrate. Singularly, they have feats about which to be proud.
For Dylan, it was “making Eagle Scout.”
The young adult came by a love for scouting naturally. His dad Darryl has been involved in the organization for 30 years and his mom Anne since 2003.
Darryl’s greatest achievement was also Boy Scout-related. It came when he received the Order of the Arrow Vigil Honor in 2012.
“That was voted on by the boys. I was surprised,” he recalled.
“You try to do your part, but you never know what kind of an impact you’re having until something like that happens.”
Before Anne could answer, her twin daughters quickly volunteered that she was the Louisiana Crawfish Festival Mrs. Queen in 2004-05 and the Opelousas Spice and Music Festival Mrs. Queen in 2005-06.
“No” she contradicts them, “Teaching is what I find most fulfilling.”
Kathy’s best personal moment was getting accepted to the Louisiana School of Math, Sciences and the Arts in Nachitoches.
“I had doubts. Nobody else did, but I doubted myself. So I was pret-
ty happy to find out I got in,” she said.
Jenny, the family artist, was thrilled when her scenic painting won the Grand Champion prize at the Terrebonne Fine Arts Guild show in 2014.
Together, the family has a common interest in the arts.
Darryl, Kathy and Dylan like to sing most kinds of music-Broadway tunes, choral and church music. Jenny enjoys tap-dancing and helps the youth at the Gerald Dishman Academy of Dance.
The entire family plays an instrument in the Houma-Terrebonne Community band, which is not surprising considering Darryl and Anne first met in 1998 as members of LSU’s Golden Band from Tigerland.
Darryl plays trumpet and Anne, the base clarinet, though she changes over to piccolo or flute when in a marching band. Dylan likes the French horn. Jenny’s choice is the baritone, which she describes as “a smaller version of the tuba that sounds like a trombone.” Kathy prefers the piccolo and flute.
Another common interest that binds this family is comics-mostly science fiction and fantasy. Darryl had over 5,000 comic books in his collection before Hurricane Katrina destroyed them all. He and Dylan readily admit to being Star Trek and Dr. Who fans. Kathy loves watching Japanese anime cartoons, and both sisters love to read manga-Japanese graphic novels. “Especially the romance ones,” Jenny added.
Downtime is spent on guilty pleasures. Anne is a “Big Bang Theory” fan. Kathy loves “Hannah Montana,” which she says “made me want to sing.” A bit of a gamer, Dylan watches others test their skills on You-Tube. “You can learn from them plus find out about new games coming out” he advised.
En route to Family of the Year, the Barrios’ spent time playing board games, attending LSU football games. Kathy also remembers a camping trip in Dularge.
“That wasn’t really camping,” Jenny chimed.
“We were goats,” Kathy responded, drawing a round of laughter.
“We did a lot more together when they were younger, but as they get older they naturally have separate interests,” Anne said. “Sometimes now we’re all going in different directions.”
They family shares church, community service and, most nights, family dinner.
It’s what unites the family.
“So many kids at our school have parents who are separated or divorced,” Jenny said. “Our parents are still together. We’re the oddballs,” Kathy chimed.
Oddballs, indeed, with parents who taught them the value of family, church and community involvement, making them not only assets to society but also members of the Family of the Year.
The Barrios family of Houma (from left) Dylan, Jenny, Anne, Darryl and Kathy, who have been named the Knights of Columbus Family of the Year for Louisiana.
The Barrios family during a recent trip to Disney World.
