Virgie “Plunk” Cantrelle Naquin, a lifelong resident of Des Allemands, concluded her earthly adventures on February 21, 2023, at the age of 97.
Visitation will be from 9:00 am until 11:00 am on Friday, February 24, 2023 at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, Paradis, LA. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11:00 am with burial to follow at St. Gertrude Cemetery, Des Allemands, LA.
“Plunk” as almost everyone called her was preceded in death by her beloved husband Randolph Joseph Naquin, Sr. She was born on September 16, 1925 to parents Wilson and Octavie Cantrelle. She was their last surviving child being preceded in death by her three sisters Stella Roberts, Gloria Petit, Marion Savoie, three brothers Wilson “Bill”, George, and Earl Cantrelle and their spouses Jack Roberts, Joseph Lanoux, Lynn Petit, Pueblito Medina, Ralph Savoie, Kathleen Cantrelle, and Francis Cantrelle along with her daughter-in-law Patty Naquin.
She is survived by her five loving children and their spouses, Gary and Pauline Naquin, Cindy and Dale Ledet, Steve “Cowboy/Wax” and Mancy Naquin, Randy “Raunch” and Dwynne Naquin, and Dennis “Nock” and Pat Naquin, her adoring grandchildren Amber Naquin and Jeremy O’Shee, Ryan Naquin, Lindy and Loyd Bourgeois, Jamie and Ryan Laird, Lance Naquin, Steven and Marcie Naquin, Rod and Teeny Naquin, Devin and Whitney Naquin, Layla and Kristian Andros, Shawn and Eliza Naquin, Dustin and Kelly Naquin, and Susan and Travis Weisbrod and her beloved great-grandchildren, Rylie and Ramsey Fisher, Preston, Sophie, and Reid Bourgeois, Micah Naquin, Callie and Lane Naquin, Francis and Edith Naquin, Lydia and Charlie Naquin, Arlo Naquin, and Bowman and Quinn Naquin along with many nieces, nephews, cousins, and great friends that she made through her countless activities.
Plunk wanted to do all the things, see all the places, and meet all the people. She was fiercely independent and hated being idle.
After graduating from Hahnville High School with honors in 1942, she dreamed of becoming a teacher. However, she became a nurse after attending Touro Nursing School under a military program due to the wartime nursing shortage. Her nursing work during World War II earned her the title of US Veteran. She then worked as an RN at Touro, for Dr. Couch’s office in Paradis, St. Ann Hospital in Raceland, and ended her long career after many years as a nursing supervisor at Ochsner Hospital at the age of 78. She believed in exercise, always taking the stairs between floors at the hospital. After retirement, she could be found taking multiple exercise and line dancing classes in a single day.
She kept her calendar full with activities and volunteering. She was a member of many groups including the Red Hat Society, Busy Bees, and a board member for the Council on Aging. She read to the students as an Allemands Angel and cuddled babies in Ochsner’s NICU. Her extensive volunteer work with RSVP, St. Charles TRIAD, and many other organizations earned her the President’s Volunteer Service Award at the age of 95. She also served as the Grand Marshall of Krewe of Des Allemands.
She was a devout parishioner of St. Gertrude Catholic Church serving as a commentator, lector, Eucharistic minister, and collections counter. She could be found every year running the Cherry Bell booth at the Catfish Festival where her family loved to gather. She was awarded the Order of St. Louis Award for her time and talent contributions as a lay member of the Church. In 2006, she was named the first Granny Catfish Queen.
She was an avid traveler visiting France, England, Germany, Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Canada, and Nova Scotia along with extensive travel within the US. Never content to simply be a spectator, she rode camels in Egypt past the pyramids, a helicopter into the glaciers of Alaska, and a hot air balloon across the Southwest desert.
Plunk was a fervent gardener growing many fruits and vegetables along with Christmas cacti, orchids, roses, and hosts of other plants. The most attention, devotion, and care went to her prized collection of African Violets. When visiting your home, she would point out plants that needed some TLC and would sometimes bring them home with her to nurse them back to full glory on her patio-turned-greenhouse. She was an amazing cook and her Thanksgiving feasts were legendary. Many of her dishes will never be perfectly replicated despite her clear instructions of adding “enough” of each ingredient and cooking “till it looks right.”
She was a skilled quilter donating quilts that she either made herself or with her quilting group to the Church each year to raffle. She loved to sew, crochet, play cards, and host Pokeno night. She had an affinity for building puzzles and passed her passion on to her family. Nightly, you could find Plunk with a collection of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren drinking coffee around the puzzle table.
A devoted matriarch, she welcomed every new member of her ever-growing family with the same fierce love whether they joined by birth, marriage, or friendship and was immediately “Grandma Plunk” to all. She could be regularly found attending ball games, plays, school activities, and dance recitals.
People aged 20-70 would regularly comment that they wanted to be Mrs. Plunk when they grew up although few could currently keep up with her. She was an inspirational model of life fully lived, and we were all blessed to be a part of her adventure.
Falgout Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
It was a joy knowing Grandma Plunk seeing her at Stevie and Marcie she will be sadly missed