Bernell Nedd, 39, died Sept. 1 after an apparent drowning accident in Bayou Des Allemands near the Old Spanish Trial bridge, where he was fishing with his two children, Kylie, 8, and Aiden, 10.
Nedd jumped into the water and began swimming. He then went underwater and did not resurface, according to the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff’s deputies, local firefighters and divers responded, and search members located and recovered the body at 10:30 p.m. that day, according to the sheriff’s office.
Friends remembered Nedd as someone with a positive outlook who was always smiling. His focus in life was his kids, friends said. When the news broke of Nedd’s passing, friends and community members contributed to a clothing drive for his children, sharing the link online, and discussing other ways to help. Nedd’s longtime friend Andrew Tregle said he is currently planning a benefit for the children as well.
“The biggest thing in his life was his kids,” Tregle said. “He did everything that he could for the kids. The kids stayed with him, and he did it all by himself pretty much.”
Tregle said Nedd recently started taking classes at the community college to become a process technician. He wanted to provide for a better future for his kids.
Friend Doreen Naquin said Nedd’s world was wrapped around being a better person and a better father.
“I didn’t know his past, but in the last couple of years it was all about giving them a better life,” she said. “Everything he did, his kids were in the back of his mind. Every decision he made, the way he worked so hard, so tirelessly. He didn’t do everything perfect, but do any of us? If every kid could have a father like him, it would be a better place.”
Naquin, who is a manager at Goodwill, said hiring Nedd to work at the store was the best decision she could have made.
“He was a great guy,” she said. “He was at work all the time, friendly, smile on his face, getting things done.”
Naquin said she became close friends with Nedd outside of work.
“He was a once-in-a-million kind of friend,” she said. “He was a ‘I-got-you’ kind of guy. Whatever I needed, he was there. We went back and forth, I helped him with his children. But no matter what anybody asked of him, he was there.”
Tregle, who is a commercial fisherman, said Nedd also worked as a deckhand for him.
“He always loved anything outdoors, working on the water, he loved to crab and loved to fish,” Tregle said. “Him and his kids went fishing all the time right there were he drowned. He was a water bug for sure.”
Four days after Nedd’s passing, Tregle went crabbing for the first time without Nedd in the boat.
“It was a rough day,” Tregle said. “It just didn’t feel the same. It was wet and rainy and miserable.”
A funeral will be held on Friday, Sept. 13 at Jones Memorial Funeral Home on Paul Maillard in Luling. Tregle is planning a gathering of Nedd’s friends and family at the Des Allemands Fire Station after the funeral.
