Charles Candella, Bunkie WWII vet
A Mass of Christian Burial for Charles Candella will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 2, 2024, at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church with the Msgr. Stephen Scott Chemino officiating. Burial will follow in the Pythian Mausoleum. Arrangements are under the direction of Hixson-Ducote Funeral Home of Bunkie.
Mr. Candella, age 95 of Bunkie, passed away on Sunday, February 18, 2024, at his residence.
Charlie was a family man and a quintessential “people person” whose love of community was evident and at his essence. As a young man, he served his country during World War II as a paratrooper in the United States Army. After settling into family life, he entered the world of business managing Wilson’s Department Store on Main St. in downtown Bunkie for thirty-five years; he later owned and operated Kwik Pantry convenience store.
A devout Catholic, Charlie relished serving as an usher at St. Anthony Catholic Church, taking great pride in his faithful church attendance. He cherished spending time with family, particularly his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. An avid golfer and fierce competitor, Charlie was instrumental in founding the Avoyelles Country Club in the late 1960s. In his spare time, he spent hours toiling in his fruit tree orchard, visiting with the many friends and neighbors who he continuously urged to “make a round,” and “holding court” with his fellow coffee-drinking jesters at McDonald's in the morning.
No biographical sketch of Charlie Candella is complete without mentioning his affinity for local politics and public service, attributes he inherited from his father. In the mid-1970s, Charlie served the City of Bunkie as Health Inspector. In 1978, he was elected as Bunkie’s Police Chief and served in that capacity from 1979-1994 and again from 1998-2002. After retiring, not one to remain idle, Charlie thoroughly enjoyed working as a blackjack dealer at Grand Casino Avoyelles in Marksville.
However, the call of elective office and public service proved too powerful a lure. As an octogenarian, Charlie sought and won the Avoyelles Ward 10 Marshal’s seat in 2014, a post that eluded him by a slim margin in his first run for public office in 1952 an astonishing sixty-two years prior. Upon successfully fulfilling his term of office in 2021, Charlie was among one of the oldest elected officials serving in the State of Louisiana.
He is preceded in death by his parents; Jasper and Josephine Medici Candella, a granddaughter, Crystal Candella; a son-in-law, Brent Guillory and a brother, Phillip Candella.
Survivors include his loving wife of 74 years, Louise Robert Candella; his children, Charles Candella, Jr. and wife Debbie of Opelousas and Cayla Candella Guillory of Evergreen; his grandchildren, Charla Guillory, Carly Candella Crowley (Cam), and Courtney Duhon (Brandon); and his great-grandchildren, Braxton Roy, Leighton Duhon, Camdyn Crowley, Jasper Crowley, Kynlee Duhon and Charlie Crowley.
Online condolences may be sent to www.hixson-ducote.com