Rev. Sheldon Louis Roy, age 64, of Marksville

A Mass of Christian Burial for Rev. Sheldon Louis Roy will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, February 1, 2018 at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Marksville with Father Scott Chemino, V.G., officiating and concelebrated by fellow priests of the Diocese of Alexandria. Interment will be in Maryhill Cemetery in Pineville. Arrangements are under the direction of Hixson Brothers Funeral Home of Marksville.  Alexandria Diocese Bishop David P. Talley is expected to attend.
      
     Rev. Roy was a priest of the Diocese of Alexandria. He passed from this life at his home in Marksville on Saturday, January 27, 2018.  He was 64 years old.  The son of late Van Lewis Roy and Lillia “Bettie” Elizabeth Landaiche, Father Roy was born in Cottonport and grew up in Marksville.  A 1971 graduate of Marksville High School, he attended Louisiana State University and the Northwood Institute.  He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Saint Meinrad College and later received a Master of Divinity degree from the University of Dallas.

     Father Roy was ordained a priest on May 31, 1986 and served in active ministry for 12 years.  His last years of life were spent working in executive management and fund-raising for various charities and institutions in Miami and Lafayette.  His many natural talents, especially in music, were greatly appreciated by all who knew him. From an early age he demonstrated a love for the French language, culture and history.  He remained most dedicated to his family and shared a passion for genealogy and history.

Father Roy loved life and lived it to the fullest. He was especially talented in Catholic music, a passion instilled in him by his grandmother Marie Ducote Roy. He learned to read music to perfection and played the piano and organ. He sang in Saint Joseph's choir.

As a child his mentor was long time St. Joseph Pastor Henry "Father Van" Van DerPutten. Father Van would call young Sheldon a nickname in Dutch which meant "The little mighty blast." The church would echo from the full organ music played by the young boy. As a teenager, he was on the volunteer campaign staff in the successful effort to elect Eddie Knoll as district attorney.

Before his priesthood, he took over the family business of Lewis Roy Motors and ran it several years.

In keeping with his love of French culture and the Catholic faith, he advertised the dealership in both English and French and closed the dealership on Catholic Holy Days of Obligation.

He had a deep understanding of the culture of Avoyelles Parish. He spearheaded and volunteered on several projects to enhance the parish. He was often called upon to speak about the rich history of the parish and its people. He promoted the fact that Avoyelles was settled by direct French immigrants and Quebec descendants -- not by the Acadians who came from Nova Scotia.

He served as president of the Marksville Chamber of Commerce in 1976. He was the founding president of the Avoyelles chapter of CODOFIL (Council of Development of French in Louisiana). He sucessfully spearheaded the effort to officially rename all waterways in Avoyelles from English back to their original French names. To this day, maps of Avoyelles contain the French names.

A preservationist, he renovated one of Marksville's grand old homes, that of his great aunt Pearl Roy Bordelon. He often opened the home for civic meetings. He also preserved and shared a large collection of 19th Century and early 20th Century photographs of Avoyelles Parish and its people. Most recently he had discovered and preserved several Avoyelles Post Colonial documents from the 1700s which he had digitized at UL. He also recently completed the transcription and translation of the post-Civil War diary of the Rev. Julius Juneau of France. The work details the creation of the Mansura and Marksville Catholic Church parishes. His most recent research uncovered the history of a previously unknown church at the Avoyelles Post, established in the 1790s and serving until about 1845 when the first church building was erected between Marksville and Mansura. Previous historians had assumed the church had always been located in the latter location.

He had returned to Marksville in recent years where he immediatelty focused his efforts on strengthening CODOFIL. He started a French-speaking group which still meets at the library on Saturday mornings. Many people, old and young, take part in the group to enhance their French. He taught high school French at the Avoyelles Charter School, where he tried to incorporate Avoyelles French sayings in his class. He would teach his students the difference in modern Parisian French and older Avoyelles French, telling them, "This is how to say it correctly, but if you go home tonight and talk to your grandparents they may say it like this..."

Last summer he connected with relatives in Saint-Vallier de Bellechasse, Québec, where he was able to see the homesite and farm of the Avoyelles Roy family patriarch, Jean B. Roy, who immigrated to Avoyelles in the 1790s. Rev. Roy was planning to have a family reunion in Quebec this summer where the Roys from Avoyelles were to meet their relatives in Quebec.

He led the effort to develop a “twinning” agreement between Avoyelles Parish and Bellechasse, Quebec -- believed to be the first county-level twinning agreement in the country.

He was most recently working in business with his cousin Josette Rovira Hargett, in helping the mentally challenged of Central Louisiana.

     Survivors include one brother, Van Roy of Marksville; three sisters, Constance Roy and husband Alain of Houston, TX, Catherine Roy of Marksville, Elizabeth Roy of Germany; “Parrain” to nephews, Ron Bordelon and Roch Bordelon; nieces, Lisa Bordelon, Ashley Miller and husband Alan, Amie Bordelon; great nephews, Gage Bordelon, William Miller, Michael Miller and great niece Lila Bordelon.
   Visitation will be held at Hixson Brothers Funeral Home in Marksville on Wednesday, January 31, 2018 from 4:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. and will resume on Thursday from 8:00 a.m. until 9:45 a.m. Recitation of the Holy Rosary will be held at 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday.
     Pallbearers will be Ron Bordelon, Roch Bordelon, Gage Bordelon, Alan Miller, Wendell Weeden and Robert Perlberg. Honorary pallbearers will be William Miller and Michael Miller.