Arville Touchet

March 25, 1937 ~ June 24, 2022

KAPLAN — Funeral services will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, July 2, 2022 at Vincent Funeral Home - Kaplan honoring the life of Arville Touchet, 85, who died Friday, June 24, 2022. He will be laid to rest at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Cemetery with Reverend Mark Miley officiating the services. Serving as pallbearers will be Terry Mire, Mario Barreto, Cedric Babineaux, Steve Clostio, John Duhon and Matt Greene. Landon Folsom and Gus Babineaux will be honorary pallbearers.
At the age of eight Arville began working in the rice fields with his father, which was where his knowledge of soils began. Arville attended Kaplan High School. It was there under the teaching and leading of his agriculture teacher, Mr. Art Lazard Landry, that his formal soil education began. After graduating in 1955, he began college at SLI majoring in Agronomy, studying crops and soils. Upon graduating from SLI in 1959, he got a job at USDA Soil Conservation Service in Alexandria. He received his Master’s Degree in Agronomy which led him to become the Louisiana State Soil Scientist, earning several promotions allowing him to oversee 17 states. His expertise has been used in publishing maps of the parish soils for our state.
Arville’s ability to speak French opened the door for him to do work in the French speaking countries of Africa, through the University of Ghent in Belgium. In 1992, he retired from the USDA SCS and developed his own consulting business. He did some lecturing on soil at UL, and was an Adjunct Professor at LSU in Wetland Studies. He has also served as expert witness in trial cases regarding wetland issues. Arville was also very grateful for the mentor he had in Dr. Charles Cain, his college professor who continued to help him throughout his career.
He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Annie Grace Mire Touchet of Kaplan; his son, Timothy Arville Touchet and his wife, Joni of Harmony, FL; his daughter, Tina Carolyn Folsom of Abbeville; his grandson, Jeremy Daniel Folsom and his wife, Kecia of Maurice; his two great grandchildren, Landon Folsom and Avery Folsom; and his two sisters, Shirley Thibodeaux of Kaplan and Zula Perry of Alexandria.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Semar Touchet and the former Alix LeBlanc; one son-in-law, Larry W. Folsom; his sister, Marie Abshire; and his brother, Philip Touchet.
The family requests that visiting hours be observed at Vincent Funeral Home - Kaplan, 300 N. Eleazar Ave., on Friday, July 1, 2022 from 2:00 PM until 9:00 PM with a rosary being prayed at 7:00 PM; Saturday, July 2, 2022 from 8:00 AM until the time of the services at 11:00 AM.arrangements are being conducted by Vincent Funeral Home of Kaplan, (337) 643-7276 [Service Information 225-5276]. Condolences may be sent to the Touchet family at www.vincentfuneralhome.net.