Cecil B. Gremillion Sr. Has Died

A major person  my maternal grandfather has died.His remains will be available for visitation Tuesday April 1, 2014 at Our Lady of the Bayou, the former Notre Dame de La Bayou on Henry on Abbeville from three until eight p.m. The visitation will resume on Wednesday the second of April from opening sometime after eight until the Mass of Christian Burial to be held at the same OLOB Chapel. I will update this post with comments as more information becomes available.  UPDATE: My grandfather’s funeral Mass will be at ten o’clock on Wednesday the second. Therefore visitation should be available to those who arrive at eight o’clock in the morning and until mass begins. OLOB is under the custody and control of Family Missions Company.

two of my grandparents

I take the day to note that someone major in my life has died. He was also well known for many years and honored as the the Commodore of the Tarpon Rodeo and other such things in his day.  Pops was once President of the Vermillion Parish Savings and Loan, President of Riptide Investors, a realtor, an entrepreneur and father and grandfather to many. His military service, work for the church, sense of fun and life as an entertainer were also known to many. I will write more about him later. I have included him in some videos including two which you can view here and here.

The home my grandfather shared with his family for so long.

Yes, for me it is the fact that my grandfather Cecil Bruce Gremillion prominent in his family, has died. He was known to many as Pops. He was preceded in death by his parents Mr. & Mrs.Kildren Gremillion, his mother was the former Etta Marie Soileau, and his only sister Virginia whom I called Aunt Peach. he was also predeceased by his wife the former Beverlee Hollier and his infant son Robin Ryan Gremillion. He is survived by all of his other five children, My mother Genie Summers, Bruce Gremillion , Brian Gremillion,Jed Gremillion and Rachel Broussard. He is survived by all his grandchildren except Michael Gremillion. I am the oldest of that next generation. We remain relatively close in the next generation which includes on my Facebook list at the time of this writing: Cecil Gremillion, Gabriel Gremillion, Angelle Gremillion ,Rob Gremillion, Jenn Broussard Davis, Crystal Wisser , and my siblings Sarah, Susanna, Mary, Simon, Joseph and John Paul Summers as well as other not on that Facebook list. On that Facebook list at this writing was the great grandchild is Alyse E. Spiehler although not so long ago Anika was on it as well.. However all of my nieces and nephews (as I am divorced and estranged from the other possible options) are his great-grandchildren. Other relatives in some way or other on my list include Matt West, Max Wisser, Shelley West, Jeff and maybe Kieth Berlin and probably others I am not thinking of just now.

Halloween was Pop’ss birthday. His nature included the Trick or Treat Merry Prankster and some could see little else. They did not know about the sacred family shrine to Saint Jude, the charities or the devotion to family. . My grandparents  were married for over 65 years and together a bit before that both engaged and  courting. Together they went through World War II, built a home and reared a family. They went in to hospice care together. My grandmother died almost immediately and my grandfather whom almost anyone would have thought was the sicker one has lingered to make several more birthdays and part of the way in this year to the  birthday he will not reach .

I still vividly remember the younger man who was named an Economic Ambassador of Louisiana, a Commodore of a nearby Tarpon Fishing Rodeo, President of a local savings and loan, President of a local development and investment company and now he is confined to either a bed or a wheelchair and I doubt he ever feels well. Life has stages and many of them are very tough going. I hope that it is not to religious or philosophical for some who may read this to say that I hope his journey through this pain is somehow deepening and enriching to him. No life is simple but my grandfather always had a religious perspective and an interest in the inner life — which he balanced with a worldly pursuit of wealth and pleasure. He was a fairly complicated man and I am sure he still was in life and is in Eternity.

Pops is also made for the ages by his connection to his daughter Genie Gremillion Summers.  My mother, his oldest daughter was born Gene Marie Gremillion in Midland, Texas during the Second World War to his wife whom I called “Mamon”  Beverlee Hollier Gremillion and US Army Air Corps Lieutentant Cecil Bruce Gremillion.  Her own life has been an adventure and she has always been close to Pops whatever else she did.The mother of eight of which I am the eldest of seven full and legal siblings who cohabited and shared the life experience of sblings although I am much older than the next of these and so there are nuances. She has written and published plays on her complex imteraction with Acadian and other South Louisiana roots and seen them produced in her secular young adulthood. She has witten produced and directed plays especially with religious Christmas themes since then. She has written and produced a religious memoir listed in this glossary. She produced a documentary film when I was a child and has published numerous articles in numerous formats. She has stayed married to my father for over 47 years.  She recorded a grat deal about Pops in her two volume memoir.

My nieces and nephews at my maternal grandparents home

Go! You are Sent… A sort of memoir written by my mother and once distributed mostly by a small distribution company I had which placed these books with dozens of outlets around the country and the world at its height of sales with my small company. I am a significant character in this book but mostly very young. Our Family’s Book of Acts This is the sequel to Go You are Sent! it brings my mother’s religious memoir into my adult life. It is longer than the first book and has more about me as a person more similar to who I am now. It also brings to many who did not know him directly some part of Pop’s life and times. I have already shred some pictures of the home which meant so much to him and it was always prominent north of Abbeville when he lived there. Much more so when he built it and it was in its heyday than it is now when others have eclipsed it and it has decayed and eclined.

Nobody who really knew Pops can remember him without reference to Kisinoaks A property purchased and developed by my grandparents and where they also lived, The principal residence was a smallish antebellum Acadian mansion Anglicized by a Dr. Tarleton, carved up into a sort of boarding house and then cut in half and floated down river to the site where they already had a small cottage we call a “camp”. The house was redesigned, given a large facade and furnished using the advantages my grandparents had through their furniture business. Then  a swimming pool, cabana, terrace and family shrine were added to the rear of the property near the camp already existed. A dock had already existed on the Vermilion River at that point. Part of the woods was given over to the oldest son, my uncle who built a fine redwood and glass house which passed out of the family years ago. The place has been in steady decline and been somewhat subdivided in recent years. I spent a lot of time there when I was young and it was a place of activity for a host of colorful and varied characters to gather for many years.

Besides being a Cursillista he was a member of theKnights of Columbus A Catholic Men’s Fraternal, Charitable and Life Insurance order with American Patriotic and Catholic Christian Chivalric traditions founded in the nineteenth century in Connecticut. I am an inactive member.    He was huge fan of the football team and other athletics clubs at Louisiana State University also known as LSU. This is the place where I got my Master of Arts degree. I attended as a holder of the Board of Regents Fellowship. It is the largest university in Louisiana, home of the Fighting Tigers or Bayou Bengals and has many claims to excellence.  My sister graduated with a perfect academic average after matriculating for only three and a half years while she worked and during which time she was wed and gave birth to her first child. She was admitted as a National Merit Scholar.

This was close to his great love for the New Orleans Saints. He painted his tractor in Saints colors and drove it around pulling a wagon-load of grandchildren.  That was part of what made Kisinoaks special.

My ex-wife Michelle Denise Broussard Summers,born Michelle Denise Broussard, (at the time of this rewriting and for  many years prior) Michelle Broussard Hanes  could be very reserved and not easily comfortable around some of my kinfolk and on the other hand Pops could be a bit too playful with pretty girlfriends of some relatives without crossing any major lines. One way I knew Michele would work out is that she and Pops had a great relationship although not so deep and lasting as it might have been. It was one of many ways his life emerged top be seen in new lights while I knew him all my life up to this day.  As of March 31, 2014 Michelle has been my only wife and there are no prospects for any other that are at all likely. She is the person I have been closest to in my life and we were continuously together sharing a great deal for the better part of a decade. When I think of all she was to me the time we spent at Kisinoaks before and after we wed made a big difference as did other times with Pops.

Pops valued relationships and it hard to remember him without reference to other people. Here, here and here are links to notes about important people in his life. There is a lot that simply does not get written in a note like this.

There were many more sides to him but this will end this note. I may edit it  a bit but it covers the bases. Goodbye Pops!

Further Notes on Survivors, Descendants and Spouses (posted on April 1, 2014):

Eldest Daughter Genie (Gene Marie Gremillion, Mrs. Frank W. Summers II
Paul Nicolas Jordan (Deceased)

Genie and Frank W. Summers II’s children:

1.Frank W. Summers III also Frank “Beau” Summers and Beau — Childless

2. Sarah Anthea Summers, also Mrs. Kevin Granger, Sarah Summers Granger

• Sarah’s children:
• Born to Sarah Summers Spiehler and Jason Robert Spiehler:
• Alyse Elizabeth Spiehler, Anika Claire Spiehler and Soren Alexander Spiehler
• Born to Sarah Summers Granger and Kevin Joseph Granger:
• Isaac Joseph Granger and Isabel Marie Granger

3. Susanna Maria Summer, also Susanna Summers Vanvickle and Mrs. Michael         Vanvickle

• Michael Anthony Vanvickle, Anthony Michael Vanvickle, Dominic Vianney Vanvickle, Thomas  Vanvickle, Marisa Grace Vanvicle

4. Mary Magdalen Summers, also Mary Summers Hindelang and Mrs.                             Christopher Jon Hindelang

• Eli Joseph Hindelang, James Patrick Hindelang, Cecilia Marie Hindelang, Naomi Rose Hindelang

5. Simon Peter Emmanuel Summers — childless

6. Joseph Anthony Summers and his wife the former Brooke Lee Ortego

• Anthony Joseph Summers and Benjamin Clay Summers

7. John Paul Summers and his wife the former Jill Anne Thompson

• Elliot Simon Summers, Oliver William Summers and Sophie Clare Summers

Cecil Bruce Gremillion II and his wife the former Elizabeth Easton have two children:

• Michael Joseph Gremillion (deceased before the birth of his siblings)
• Cecil Bruce Gremillion III and Crystal Elizabeth Gremillion (also Crystal Gremillion Wisser).  I am not listing other great-grandchildren but one may assume most of the grandchildren have children as in fact they do.

Brian Thomas Gremillion

With his  estranged  wife Sybil

• Robin Ryan Gremillion and Gabriel Thomas Gremillion. These grandchildren were largely reared in the home of my grandparents as their children. I am not listing other great-grandchildren but one may assume most of the grandchildren have children as in fact they do.

With his wife the former Connie Minville

• Angelle Gremillion and Jared Gremillion.I am not listing other great-grandchildren but one may assume most of the grandchildren have children as in fact they do.

Jed Gerard Gremillion has fostered children  but He and his wife the former  Heidi Theriot have no children.

Rachel Theresa Gremillion, also Rachel Gremillion Broussard and Mrs. Jude Francis Broussard have two children:

• Joshua Jude Broussard and Jennifer Andree Brousssard. I am not listing other great-grandchildren but one may assume most of the grandchildren have children as in fact they do.

My great grandmother whom I called Mama Grem told me several times that her maiden name was Etta Marie Soileau and several relatives called her this in my presence. However, her legal name appears to have been Marietta Soileau. However, I will always think of her in the other version.

There are doubtless other omissions.