A Mass of Christian Burial for Mrs. Alice Geoffroy Bernard, 98, will be held at 11:00AM on Tuesday, January 20, 2015 at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church with Fr. Bill Melancon officiating. Interment will follow at Our Lady of the Lake Cemetery in Delcambre. Visitation will be at David Funeral Home of Erath on Monday, January 19, 2015 from 5:00PM until 8:00PM with a recitation of the rosary at 7:00PM. Visitation will resume on Tuesday, January 20, 2015 from 8:00AM until the time of the services Alice Geoffroy Bernard, 98, died Saturday, January 17, 2015 at her residence at Garden View Assisted Living Center in Lafayette. A lifelong resident of Erath, she was the adopted daughter of August Geoffroy and Constance Melonson of Delcambre. She is survived by her seven children (and spouses): Glenn (Marlene) Bernard of Houston; Connie (Emile) Babin of Lafayette; Ryan "Toby" (Diana Gabriel) Bernard of Houston; Kaye Bernard of Fayetteville, Arkansas; Lola (Ned) Doucet of Montgomery, TX; Mary (Ladd) Dinkins of Lafayette; and Reuben Paul Bernard of New Orleans. She leaves eight grandchildren (and spouses): Mark Bernard, Heather (David) Caldwell, Kirsten (Scott) Barron, Schuyler Kleinpeter, Liee' LeBlanc (Tony) Manzur, Patrick (Amanda) LeBlanc, Evan Bernard, and Claire Bernard, as well as four great-grandchildren: Cassidy Caldwell, Cody Caldwell, Jillian LeBlanc, and Jose' Antonio Manzur III. Alice was preceded in death by her adoptive parents, her husband Reuben Joseph Bernard, and granddaughter Monica Lynn Bernard. Alice Bernard was the last known living Orphan Train Rider in Louisiana. She started life in at New York Foundling Hospital in 1916 and was named after her birth mother, Alice Kearns. Alice lived in the orphanage for the first three years of her life where her only memories of those days were "rows of iron beds with white sheets" in the dormitories where the orphans slept. At the age of 3, she rode the Orphan Train to her new life in Cajun Country where her new family had "specially ordered" a dark haired, brown-eyed girl. As a child, she attended school in Delcambre and graduated from Mount Carmel Academy in New Iberia. In 1942, she married Reuben Joseph Bernard of the LeBlanc community, the man who would be her constant companion for the next 61 years, until he passed away in 2003. During their 61 year marriage, they farmed sugar cane, raised cattle, and operated a small trucking company to provide for their seven children. Alice and Reuben loved to travel and their adventures took them from Honolulu to Italy's Isle of Capri, and from Mexico City to Rome, London, and Paris. A member of the Cruisin' Cajuns and Bayou Rambler RV Clubs, she and Reuben crisscrossed most of North America in their Allegro RV, from the wilds of Alaska to Mexico's Copper Canyon, and from San Diego to Nova Scotia, checking out every shoreline, lake, and mountain range in between. For years, they were frequent visitors to Destin, Gulf Shores, and Padre Island. Alice was a devoted member of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, a Catholic Daughter of America, and a charter member of Les Travailleurs, as well as the Demi Tasse and "Twelve & Go" social clubs in Erath. The story of the Orphan Train movement came into prominence after research, movies, documentaries and books were written on the topic. Alice became somewhat of a celebrity when she became Louisiana's last living Orphan Train Rider. Countless newspaper articles and TV interviews soon followed. When the Orphan Train Museum opened in Opelousas in 2009, Alice became its "living" exhibit and was honored every year since. The dress she wore when she arrived at the train station in New Iberia in 1919 is still at the museum on display. She was later declared a Living Legend by the Acadian Museum in Erath. Alice continued to live at home, driving her own car, and hosting coffee parties until she was 95, before moving into assisted living. She spent the last few years of her life working her puzzles, reading novels, petting her calico cat Menou, and winning prize bingo games at Garden View. Healthy until the end, though increasingly frail, she continued to joke and entertain her children until a few weeks before her death. She would have turned 99 in March. We should all have such a full and amazing life. The family would like to give special thanks to Christine Hebert, her neighbor "angel" who assisted her countless times during her last few years in Erath, Mrs. Flo Inhern who raised her to celebrity status at the La. Orphan Train Museum, the staff at Garden View who gave her so much love and attention during her final years, all of her sitters over the past year, especially Claire, Shamara, and Raven, and most recently the staff of Hospice of Acadiana. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Orphan Train Museum, 233 S. Academy Opelousas, LA 70570 (www.laorphantrain.com). Pallbearers will be her sons Glenn, Ryan, and Paul Bernard, Judge Ned Doucet, David Caldwell, and Patrick LeBlanc. Honorary pallbearers will be Emile Babin, Ladd Dinkins, Lawrence LeBlanc, and Edgar "Junior" Dugas. David Funeral Home of Erath at 209 E. Putnam St. (337) 937-0405 will be handling the arrangements.
