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Cynthia “Cindy” Melissa Nelson, a longtime resident of Morgan City, was called to her heavenly home on August 27, 2025 at the age of 56.
Cindy was a bright light in the lives of all who knew her. She adored her grandbabies, nieces, and nephews, cherishing every moment she could spend with them. Her love for her family knew no bounds, and she remained a central figure in their lives, always ready with a warm smile and an even warmer hug.
A true people person, Cindy never met a stranger. Her natural friendliness and infectious giggle drew others in effortlessly, creating an endless circle of friends wherever she went. Whether at a family gathering or out exploring the world, her joyful spirit was impossible to miss.
Cindy found great joy in her work in real estate, a career that perfectly suited her outgoing and caring nature. Outside of work, she filled her days with music, gardening, laughter, and adventure. She loved traveling — especially to the beach.
Cindy leaves behind a beautiful legacy of love, laughter, and connection. Her spirit will live on in the smiles she brought to others, the memories she helped create, and the countless lives she touched just by being herself.
Those left to cherish Cindy’s beautiful memory are her mother, Susan Nelson; her three children, Trent Williams of Morgan City, Laini Smith and her husband, Sam, of Berwick, and Sarah Milazzo and her husband, Nathan, of Gonzales; three grand babies, Rowen Smith, Lola and Cruz Milazzo; her brother, Michael Nelson and his fiancé, Corina Blackwell; her godchild, Karson Nelson; nephews, Kollin, Kameron, and Kolton Nelson; and nieces, Amber DeVille and Meagan Kirk. She is also survived by her great nieces, Olivia and Gracie Kirk.
She was reunited in heaven with her father, Michael Nelson; her biological mother, Sue Smith; her siblings, Cheryl “Tinker” DeVille and James Nelson; and her paternal grandparents, Gwendolyn Nelson and Copeland Ray Nelson.
A time of memorial visitation will be observed for Cindy on Saturday, September 6, 2025 from 11:00 a.m. until time of services at Hargrave Funeral Home.
A celebration of Cindy’s life will begin promptly at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 6, 2025 at Hargrave Funeral Home with dismissal to follow.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Hargrave Funeral Home of Morgan City, Louisiana.

The southwest Louisiana prairies were sparsely settled and a bit frightening until the railroad finally crossed them in the early 1880s and settlers began to establish towns and farms. Father P. J. Parisot, a priest based in Galveston, testified to that in a little book about his missionary work in the 1850s.
He crossed the Sabine in 1852 and wandered through what is now Calcasieu Parish for several months, “ending with a visit to Lake Charles and its three Catholic families.”
He said in his autobiography that he was the first priest to come to the area in at least 20 years. (“The Reminiscences of a Texas Missionary,” San Antonio, 1899)
“After crossing the Sabine River, I visited Calcasieu Parish, an immense district … [where] crossing bayous and bottoms, marshes and bogs … and getting lost on the pathless prairies were of frequent occurrence,” he wrote.
There were no bridges in those days, and the bayous were “numerous and deep.” His method of crossing them was to “hold my horse by the tail with one hand and paddle with the other.”
Somewhere in the Calcasieu area he visited a small settlement of Caranchua Indians.
He baptized 11 children there, when “a Creole gentlemen who spoke the dialect of the tribe stood as sponsor.”
He also baptized the daughter of the chief, who was then in her fifties and came “a considerable distance” with her two children, who were also baptized.
The chief, “a stout man of 85, who knew a little broken English,” told the priest that “a long time ago he was owner of all the country around.” That was when his tribe was “plenty, plenty.” The old chief was also the doctor for his settlement, with a “pharmacy consisting of herbs, flowers, and roots of the forest of his kingdom.”
Father Parisot was heading back toward Texas when he had a chance encounter scary enough to make him say what he thought might be his final prayers.
“Turning toward the Sabine River, I met a crowd of Indians in the woods who nearly frightened the life out of me,” he wrote. “Were they gentle or wild? I said my Act of Contrition, and when they drew near, I tried to look pleasant and bade them good evening. They muttered a few words and passed by. My fear abated and my heart beat more regularly.”
He may have been unduly alarmed because he was a newcomer to the “wild west.” He left France in March 1852 as part of a group of “six Oblate Fathers and one Lay Brother, accompanied by four Nuns of the Incarnate Word, two Ursuline Sisters, four Brothers of Mary, and eighteen seminarians.”
They made the two-month voyage to New Orleans and then to Galveston in response to a plea for missionaries by Jean-Marie Odin, newly appointed bishop in the Galveston diocese, which then included all of Texas. (Odin was later named Archbishop of New Orleans.)
Father Parisot made at least two more trips to Calcasieu Parish.
On the second trip he was helped by “a French gentleman named Pujo” who was about to sail down the Calcasieu in a small boat.
The priest went with him and “baptized on both sides of the river while the captain sold his goods.”
This was almost certainly Paul Rose Pujo, who came to Louisiana from France and who moved from New Orleans in the 1840s to Rose Bluff, a little settlement on the Calcasieu, and who later opened a store and saloon on the Lake Charles lakefront at the foot of Pujo Street, which is named for him.
Father Andre Borias came with Father Parisot on his third trip to Calcasieu, probably in 1854.
Both priests were then stationed in Galveston, but Father Borias later became pastor at Beaumont and regularly visited the Calcasieu area from there. The registers of the Galveston Diocese show 129 baptisms were recorded in Calcasieu Parish during those missionary years.
You can contact Jim Bradshaw at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.

Artists Guild Unlimited
Everett Street Gallery opened its doors to Patrons and Donors of Artists’ Guild Unlimited at 6 p.m. Aug. 26. This is the 61st year the Labor Day Art Show & Sale has taken place.
AGU has one project a year to make money for running the art gallery. Artists from many surrounding parishes and often some out-of-state artists enter their work in the show.
All art is for sale with the exception of Teens and Children I & II. However, even those teens and children enjoy selling their work, so some of that art is for sale, too.
The night of Aug. 26 made history for AGU. At 5:45 p.m. the sky opened and dropped a thunderstorm on top of Everett Street Gallery. Some devoted patrons and donors braved the weather and pulled out their umbrellas!
Drivers acted as chauffeurs and allowed the ladies to get to the door. Those gentlemen came after parking and sloshing through the water build-up in the streets.
A member said, “Well, that’s it. The rains came. What else can go wrong?”
Unfortunately, along with the guests, Hermes (the divine trickster) attended the reception, too. Because in less than an hour, the lights went out! No lights in “Photography,” “Teens,” or “Children.”No air conditioning, but there were doors to open for air circulation, and phones became a source of light, enabling art to be seen “up close and personal.”
Art in the dark! What more could we ask for to make this a memorable night! Art in the dark!
After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Steve Cavalier and Amanda McElfresh said, “When words failed, music and art gave New Orleanians an escape and a vision for a better future.”
St. Mary Parish has been gifted with a cultural venue to escape or enjoy everyday life and intake the beauty that talented artists offer through their minds and creativity.
Please, take your children and your grandchildren to Everett Street Gallery to teach them about the beauty surrounding them, a place to go to lift their spirits.
The gallery is at the corner of Everett and First streets. Hours are 1-4 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday through Friday, Sept. 26.

Several Louisiana officials voiced their concerns over federal cuts by the current Trump administration during a press call with Sabotaging Our Safety on Tuesday in conjunction with the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
The devastating storm struck Aug. 29, 2005. Katrina displaced 1.5 million people as it racked up over $125 billion in damages (2005 dollar value).
“The further we get away from a catastrophic event, the more we forget about how bad it really was,” said former FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell. “Progress still needs to be made. Change is needed. There’s always room for improvement, especially as the number of disasters, the severity and the complexity of recoveries continue to increase.”
Criswell; Mitch Landrieu, former Louisiana lieutenant governor and mayor of New Orleans; and Davante Lewis, Louisiana Public Service commissioner, said the cuts happening at the federal level are having a significant impact on disaster preparedness and response.
Sabotaging Our Safety is a nonprofit organization that seeks to bring awareness to the direct impact federal and state policies have on communities. 
“We are losing a lot of ground quickly because the lessons that we learned are being completely undermined by the Trump administration,” said Landrieu. “I am very concerned about it for the state of Louisiana.”
Landrieu said natural disasters are made worse directly through the consequence of cuts made to the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Cuts to staffing and funding are happening to many disaster relief programs at the federal level, leaving many feeling understaffed and underprepared.
“We’ve lost access to mitigation funding right now, so we wouldn’t be able to rebuild those levees in the way that we did after Hurricane Katrina,” said Criswell. “With the hazard mitigation funding in jeopardy, and with the inability of FEMA to be as agile as it used to be, we’re really looking at not just pushing things down to the state and local level, but we’re making them more vulnerable.”
“What we are seeing from the cuts in the ‘Big, Beautiful, Ugly Bill’ versus what we are seeing in the cuts to the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA and NOAA is showcasing that people in Louisiana are struggling from even just a temperature change, not even from a hurricane,” said Lewis.
While some are concerned about the ongoing federal cuts, many Louisiana lawmakers are in support of the current administration’s cuts.
“Thanks to the leadership of President Donald Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson, and Congressman Steve Scalise, Americans just received: largest tax cut in history, no tax on tips, overtime and social security, permanently secure our borders, permanent increase to the child tax credit, protects two million family farms from punitive double taxation, unless American Energy Dominance, modernizes the American military and ends fraud, waste and abuse in our federal government,” Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said on social media.
At the time President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Acts, House Speaker Johnson, Gov. Jeff Landry, U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow and U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy all shared their support.