Dolores Broussard

March 27, 1939 ~ April 13, 2022

KAPLAN — Memorial services will be held at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, April 20, 2022 at St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Catholic Church honoring the life of Dolores “Ms. Dee” Broussard, with Reverend Mark Miley officiating the services. She was the first-ever elected female councilwoman for the City of Kaplan and former organist for Cabrini Catholic Church of Kaplan and St. Theresa Catholic Church of Abbeville, passed away peacefully in her daughter’s home in Kaplan on Wednesday, April 13, 2022.
Dolores Broussard was born in 1939 in Abbeville, Louisiana. She was the 10th of 11 children of Luke and Ida Broussard of Kaplan. She taught herself to play the piano at the age of 5 and began playing in church at 8 years old. She was the organist for Cabrini Catholic Church in Kaplan and St. Theresa Catholic Church in Abbeville for well over 70 years combined. Tourists from around the world made it a point to attend mass at Cabrini just to be blessed by Ms. Dolores’s gift. She graduated from high school at 16, then attended SLI (now ULL), and earned her nursing degree.
She has always been civic-minded. She played an integral part in the civil rights movement. Her children were in the first group of children to integrate into schools in Kaplan. Her whole life has been one of service to her community. Countless people in the community would count on Ms. Dee for help and advice. She ran for Kaplan city councilwoman and was the first female ever elected to the position. As a councilwoman, every Christmas she would purchase turkeys for all city employees.
Anyone who knew Ms. Dee remembers her famous homemade tarts. She would ride down Main Street on her scooter delivering them to the police station, the bank, and city hall in appreciation for their service. Anyone who would pass by her house while she was baking would be welcomed to come in and try some.
In 2000, on the way to one of her home health patient’s houses, she was in a terrible car accident that left her completely immobile for several months. The doctors wanted to amputate her leg and said that she would never walk again. Her famous phrase was, “You don’t know the God I serve”. At the end of her long stint in the hospital, Ms. Dolores walked out of the hospital. She went back to her normal life of gardening, baking tarts, and playing the organ at church.
She recently had several major setbacks in her life: a house fire, a heart attack, and a stroke. While she was not the old “Ms. Dee” that everyone remembers, at 83, she still had unwavering faith in God and that feisty, fighting spirit. Some of her famous lines were: “If you gonna pray, don’t worry…if you gonna worry, don’t pray!, Shaa, my baby, and you ain’t gon worry me”.
She is survived by her son, Speedy Lappin and wife, Phyllis; daughter, Tina Chargois and husband, C.J.; godchild, Janet Moss and husband, Wayne; her grandchildren, Pedro “Trey” Jones III, Tatiana Boutte and husband, Tim, Sonnie Jackson, Alexis Jackson, Danielle Willis, Angelle Beltran and husband, Jon, Brittany Lassiter, Carl Chargois, Jr., Carina Chargois, and Chloe Chargois; her ex-husband, Linus Duhon; 17 great-grandchildren; and numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, family members, and friends.
She was preceded in death by her father, Luke Broussard; her mother, Ida Sellers Broussard; her siblings, Lena, Leona, Eldridge “Bruce”, Maudry, Audrey “Tsis”, Howard “Bob”, Evelle, Leon “Butsy”, Lona, and Glorious; and her daughters, Ida Robinson Solomon, and Tammy Robinson Fuselier.
The family requests that visiting hours be observed at St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Catholic Church, 910 N. Frederick Ave., on Wednesday, April 20, 2022 from 9 a.m. until the time of the services at 11 a.m.
All funeral arrangements are being conducted by Vincent Funeral Home of Kaplan, (337) 643-7276 [Service Information 225-5276]. Condolences may be sent to the Broussard family at www.vincentfuneralhome.net.