YOU NEED TO KNOW…
July 14, 2015
What would YOU do to win?
July 14, 2015
Devoted church leader, skilled craftsman and caring family man. Lindsey Gaspard, Sr., died at 82 on June 30, 2015.
Born and raised along Bayou Lafourche, Lindsey Gaspard Sr. learned from an early age the importance of hard work and kindness.
As a shrimper’s son, dedication was in his blood and he brought that with him into adulthood, serving as an ordained minister in churches both close to home and throughout the southern region, always available to spread the word of Jesus.
“We grew up together,” Galliano’s Lighthouse Worship Center Rev. Eno Dantin said of his childhood friend, who attended his church for many years. “He was just an outstanding man. He was the kind of guy you could always depend on and didn’t have to worry if he would show up or not.”
Lindsey made a living working as a carpenter and roofer for much of his young adult life, becoming a familiar face in homes throughout Golden Meadow. So much so that his business flourished just by word of mouth. Then, one day, all that changed when a friend asked him for a little spiritual guidance.
“A friend of his asked him if he would come to his house and teach him the Bible and he said yes,” his wife, Glenda Gammel Gaspard, said. “He would work all day and then he would go at night into their homes and they would invite all their friends. It just grew so quickly and so fast and from what I understand, this was before I came into the picture, they were in one home and they outgrew it. They moved to another home and started having Bible study there. They outgrew that home and it go to be, ‘What are we going to do?”‘
Lindsey and those who looked forward to the teachings of their neighbor began talking about the possibility of building a church and with some encouragement from Pastor Eno and his congregation, Christian Fellowship Church in Larose was born.
The original church was pretty large, Glenda said of the place where the two originally met, but attendance grew quickly and before long, Lindsey was working on plans for an even larger establishment. The current facility now uses the original building as a children’s church.
“At the funeral, I heard someone say the very first service they had in the new building, it was standing room only,” she said.
“I’ve heard him say, ‘Had I known where it was taking me, I would have probably been so scared, I would have never done it.’ He never felt like he was pastor material. He always said, ‘I’m just a plain old person,’ but you know, God calls us and he equips us for what He has us do and that’s what he was supposed to do. He said, ‘The whole time I was building the church, I kept waiting for the real pastor to come.'”
Lindsey pastored at Christian Fellowship for eight years before following Jesus’ call once again first to Texas then back to Louisiana. The couple married in 1984 and eventually made their way back to Louisiana where the two put down roots in Galliano to raise their son, 30-year-old Allen, who suffers from spina bifida, a disabling birth defect in which a baby’s spinal column does not close all the way. In order to help his son as best he could, Lindsey built a handicap-accessible home and the family stayed along the bayou for about 10 years.
“He built a home their and it seemed like we were going to stay there forever,” Glenda remembered. “Then we kind of felt like we were supposed to leave and we wound up going to Arkansas for three years and we helped there in a church. You know, when they’re born and bred and Louisiana, though, they don’t like to leave,” Glenda, an Arkansas native, laughed. “He said the air was just different there. Then my cousin called and he said, ‘I don’t know why but I just feel like I need to call you and tell you that if ever you want to move back to Louisiana, we could use some help.’ We thought about it, prayed about it and we decided that’s what we needed to do.”
With bags packed, the Gaspard family headed back south to Denham Springs where Lindsey lived the rest of his life immersed in the church. It became like a haven for the family, a place where much time was spent as Glenda served as worship leader, her daughter played the piano and Allen sang with the worship team.
At home, Lindsey enjoyed quiet time, creating furniture for his wife and children or whittling away on various wooden duck or pheasant carvings, most of which he gave away over the years to those he thought might like the handiwork.
“He gave them to anybody and everybody,” Glenda said. “He would start carving and always say, ‘Well, who would want this?’ He would carve it knowing who he wanted to give it to. One time, he did a beautiful one, matter of fact, I wanted to keep it because it was so pretty, but somebody came along and they were doing an auction and he gave them the carving.”
Although most of his work now resides in other homes, the ones she has left, the far less attractive beginner’s pieces she stumbled upon when looking for mementos for the grandchildren, are some of her most cherished possessions now.
His constant generosity, both in the church and at home, is what lives on in the memories of those who knew him best.
“It didn’t matter who he was talking to,” Pastor Eno explained. “He treated everyone like a relative.”
Lindsey Gaspard Sr. spread the word of Jesus Christ to all he met, including in home bible studies and as founding pastor of Larose’s Christian Fellowship Church.
