Biography: Funeral services for Mrs. Velma Mae DeCorte, 99, of West Monroe, LA, will be held at 1:00 P.M., Saturday, March 11, 2023, at
St. Paschal’s Catholic Church in West Monroe, LA, with Rev. Jerry Daigle officiating. Interment will follow in Mulhearn Memorial Park Cemetery in Monroe, LA.
Mrs. DeCorte was born December 24, 1923, and passed away March 8, 2023. She was a member of St. Paschal’s Catholic Church. Mrs. DeCorte enjoyed doing crossword puzzles and reading the newspaper. She loved her family and especially when they would all come in from out of town.
She was preceded in death by
husband: Nick DeCorte, Sr.
daughter: Mary Lynn DeCorte
sisters:
Ruth Louise Gonzales and husband Joe
Gloria Willett and husband Branch
brother: Fred Couvillion and wife Florence.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope. For those who may not know me, my name is Danyelle. Velma is my Mamaw, and I am honored to be able to speak on behalf of the family about our beloved Velma, who I’ll just refer to, hereafter, as Mamaw. We should not merely grieve Mamaw’s death. When a Christian dies, we should also rejoice. Truly, for a Christian, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
In 1st Thessalonians 4:13-14, it says
"But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have died."
As a believer in Christ departs from this life, they are immediately in a far better place. Mamaw is with Christ! I believe our ultimate redemption and reward is death and moving on to our Heavenly home with God, our Father. Mamaw received her ultimate redemption, her ultimate healing. She has finished the race and kept the faith; and that faith has become sight. She received her final reward. Well done, good and faithful servant.
My fondest memories as a child are from the times I spent with Mamaw and Papaw. I spent many weekends with them and even lived with them at times . Mamaw loved all of her grandchildren very much, and we all adored her. We loved the cousin sleep over weekends at Mamaw and Papaw’s. She always had time for us. She would take us to the zoo, the movies, the arcade ... and we also can’t forget about the fun rides in the back of Mamaw’s station wagon...
before seat belts and car seats were really required. Fun times!
I also have very fond memories of the spaghetti dinners and bingo nights at St. Joseph Church. Mamaw’s grandchildren have many memories of special outings and moments with her. We always loved to hear her tell us stories, from when she was a child, and through her younger years. She taught us many things. For me, one of those things was how to cook ... and how to make the perfect roux. I loved helping Mamaw make gumbo!
I will also never forget when I was 12 years old. I wanted to be a blonde. So, being the wonderful Mamaw that she was, she bought me a box of store bought blonde hair dye... and, as you can imagine, it didn’t turn out pretty . It was bright orange and splotchy . It was pretty awful. But, Mamaw was always so supportive of letting me try to express myself . She always had a kind word to share and a way of making you feel special. I actually largely credit her for helping to shape me into who I am today, as she did with every one in our f a m i ly. She not only influenced me in so many ways, but she influenced us all greatly and she truly was the best Mamaw, and she was a wonderful examp le of a Christian woman.
In Proverbs 22:6 it says,
“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
And, she did just that. She made sure we all knew who Jesus was when we were little. Also, what a blessing it was that she was able to still be here with us to meet al l of her precious great-grandchildren. All of her grandchildren feel truly blessed to have had her as our Mamaw. So, thank You, Lord, for lending her to us. But not only was Mamaw a wonderful Mamaw, she was first an amazing Wife and Mother.
She absolutely adored and loved her family, including her siblings, who would come from Shreveport to visit. They would all sit around the kitchen table, drinking coffee, playing cards, and laughing. Usually talking about funny or mischievous things they did when they were growing up. This is one of Gloria’s favorite memories of her mother, and the special time spent with family.
She loved listening to all of their stories and did not even want to go outside to play with her cousins, because it was too much fun watching them . As a matter of fact, those times are also very fond memories of mine. I also got to experience the joy and merriment of their family visits. I loved hanging out with them, listening to their stories and their laughter.
I’m sure every one here has memories much like ours. They are good memories, something we’ll always have to cherish. It’s always a blessing to have someone so special to us in our lives that that person will stay with us forever. Mamaw was that kind of person. The kind of love Mamaw felt for all of us, was love without condition. She may not have approved of every thing we did, may not have liked some of the decisions we made, but she didn’t lecture, she didn’t judge. She just kept loving us, letting us know that she was there and if we ever needed her, we could count on her to listen, to comfort, to help.
Mamaw lived a simple life and it didn’t take much to make her happy - a phone call, a card, a visit... with a bag, or ten, of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. She truly loved everyone in our family and she was so proud of each and every one of us.
She may not have had riches to leave behind to her heirs, but money can be squandered and property ruined. What we inherited from her cannot be damaged, destroyed, or lost. It is permanent, and it keeps her from becoming just a wonderful memory. It allows her, in so many ways, to remain just as alive as always - alive through us. There have been, and will be, times in our lives when situations arise where we’ll want so much to talk to her, be with her, share good news with her, or just ask her opinion about something . I hope that when those times come, we can begin to look to each other and find that part of her that she gave to each of us. Maybe then she won’t seem quite so far away .
So, for your wisdom, your humor, tenderness and compassion, your understanding, your patience, and your love;
thank you, Mamaw.
Enjoy your warm milk and endless Hoochie Coochie dancin’ in your beautifully restored heavenly body! We can’t wait to someday dance with you again.
Until then,
Love Always f rom Your Family