Church Point:     A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 12:30 PM Saturday, May 7, 2022, at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Church Point, LA, for Evelyn Marie Boudreaux Smith, 74, who passed away on Monday, May 2, at her residence in Bristol, LA. Rev. Fr. Père David Rozas, Parochial Vicar of Our Lady of The Sacred Heart Church, will be the Celebrant of the Mass. Interment will follow at Bellevue Memorial Park on Highway 182 south of Opelousas, LA.

Evelyn Marie Boudreaux Smith was born on March 1, 1948, to Allie and Anne Boudreaux at her grandparents' home in Higginbotham, LA. Born about a month early, she was so small that she fit into a shoe box and her grandfather, Aladdin "Dodd" Boudreaux, jokingly called her "Pee Wee". Evelyn first lived in the house that her father Allie built on their farm in Higginbotham along with her younger sister Sandra, then they all "moved to town" when her parents, along with her cousin and his wife, Hilman and Sybil Boudreaux, opened the Dairy Pride ice cream stand in 1954 for the summer season. During this time, they lived in the apartments above "Quibby's" Drugstore on Main Street in Church Point and while playing outside Evelyn first met her future husband Gary, whose parents owned and operated the Economy Grocery and Market next door. When the Boudreaux's moved permanently to town to run the Dairy Pride year-round, they literally moved their Higginbotham house to the corner of Keller and South Coolidge Streets, and along with a new residence and new lifelong friends came two younger siblings, Vicki and Brent. Evelyn attended Our Lady of the Sacred Heart elementary school from first through eighth grades, conveniently located across from Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church and the Dairy Pride. During these years, she helped her parents by making dip cones and by keeping her siblings in line at home. Evelyn's lifelong passions of reading and writing began as a young girl. She also devoted her extracurricular time to 4-H, where she was a baker of legendary cherry pies. Evelyn loved traveling to visit the Boudreaux relatives in Texas for holidays and special occasions and the Boudreaux's took every opportunity on school breaks to head out on a family road trip to all areas of the country. Inevitably on one of these trips, Allie would fuss at Evelyn for having her nose in a book instead of soaking in the scenery.

At the encouragement of Sybil Boudreaux, Evelyn attended the Academy of the Sacred Heart in Grand Coteau, LA, where she found a penchant for poetry in the classes of Sister Anna Mae Marheineke and learned that she would do best to avoid science classes from Sister Mary Lou "Tippy" Guillory. Both of these educators influenced her career and she continued to visit with them the rest of their lives. Her years at the Academy were filled with many car rides to and from Church Point, good friends from all around the state and beyond, and a strengthening of the values of education and faith that she carried throughout her life. Evelyn graduated from the Academy in 1966 and enrolled at the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now University of Louisiana at Lafayette), from which she graduated in 1971. At the urging of her father, Evelyn invited her old playground friend, Gary Smith, to her senior prom at the Academy and they began their life journey together, marrying on January 25, 1969. After Gary's graduation from LSU in May 1969, they moved to Houston. When Gary was drafted shortly after, Evelyn moved home to help her widowed mother care for her younger siblings, and their family love got them through those darkest days. She rejoined Gary at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, where she learned to make fried bologna sandwiches and casseroles that Gary teased her about for years. Once Gary left the service, they settled in Beaumont, Texas, where Evelyn taught school and they welcomed their first daughter, Allie. Not long after, they moved back to Louisiana, had two more daughters, Amelia and Adriane, and built their home in Bristol. Evelyn began teaching at Arnaudville High School in 1978, first as an English teacher in the high school and later as its school librarian. When Beau Chene High School opened in 1991, she joined its inaugural faculty as a freshman English teacher. She became the Opelousas Senior High School librarian in 1996 and retired after over 30 years of teaching in 2005. In those years, she had a profound influence on countless students who remember her in many of the same ways that her own children do-she never suffered a fool lightly, she pushed you to do more than you thought you could do, she always had a good story to tell, and you knew that she was proud of you, no matter what. She let students use her classroom or library for refuge; they knew that they could be safe in those places from whatever threats they had at home. Most of all, she cared about her students and they knew that she cared about them, day in and day out.

Evelyn and Gary often joked that they didn't remember the 1980s because they were so busy. But they were present in all of the ways that mattered for their children. Whether it was to make a swan costume for a third-grade presentation or the world's most creative book covers instead of brown paper bags, she never flinched at pulling out the glue gun or the craft paper and jumping right in. She made clothes for her children, she dropped them off and picked them up at Girl Scouts, sports practices, community service projects, field trips, and more. She took them to the library religiously and got them individual library cards before they could read or write their own names. During summers, she often took classes at ULL and her children did, too. She would make time for Borden's or other treats after school or just because, loving milkshakes and malts from her Dairy Pride days. She gave her daughters haircuts for many years and then cut her grandchildren's hair, too, in a pinch. She learned calligraphy on her own, gave lessons to others, and spent many nights and weekends writing invitations and cards for newlyweds, family, and friends. She moved from her cherry pies to casseroles to becoming a wonderful and creative cook. She wrote poems for loved ones to mark special occasions and even has had them published in collections. She had several stories published in collected works and even had a novel in progress at the time of her illness. Her love of family history and stories brought her to the hobby that both she and Gary loved doing together - family genealogy. Their hard work over the years has resulted in an extensive archive of documented research, much of it in her meticulous handwriting. Beyond her work in St. Landry Parish public schools, Evelyn also volunteered her time to make her community a better place through education. She was integral to establishing the Sunset Community Library and served on its board, helping to process and catalog the first donated books in its original small house and contributed to its growth to its current size over the years. She guided an adult writing group through the library and she volunteered teaching adults to read. She served on the board of the library as well as the St. Ignatius School Board and the Academy of the Sacred Heart Advisory Committee.

She described Gary as the love of her life and "her rock" and their life together has been one of joy, even on the hardest days. Beginning when she retired and ramping up when he retired, they enthusiastically acted on their shared desire to see the world. They visited 44 of the 50 states and countless countries, including a favorite trip to Portugal, a cruise on the Queen Elizabeth 2, a cruise to Alaska that was her dream to do with her children and grandchildren, a visit to Normandy to see where her father landed on the beaches during the D-Day invasion and where he participated in the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium, a trip through the Panama Canal, a visit with good friends in the South of France, a tour of Italy to see where Gary's father spent his time during World War II, a viewing of glaciers calving at the Arctic Circle, and so much more.

They also traveled to less exotic places like Baton Rouge and Salt Lake City to spend time with their children and their six grandchildren, whom Evelyn considered her greatest joys. From making homemade beignets to attending all of their plays and concerts to taking them to museums and libraries and book festivals, she never hesitated to show them her complete and unconditional love. Our "Evie" will long be remembered as our greatest champion and source of support and encouragement. In addition to the people in her life that she loved, she also loved shoes, purses, and shopping for shoes and purses. She loved scarves and had one for every outfit, usually with a story. Her favorite color was yellow because it brightened the world in the ways that she did–whether she'd known you her whole life or just met you at the grocery store, she had a way of making you feel at ease with laughter and warmth.

Evelyn is survived by her husband of 53 years, Gary Smith; her three daughters, Alyce "Allie" and her husband Phil Schmitt of Baton Rouge, Adriane and her husband Blayne McRae of Baton Rouge, and Amelia Rinehart of Morgantown, West Virginia; her six grandchildren, Carter and Amelie Schmitt and Raz and Smith McRae, all of Baton Rouge, and Elise and Thomas Rinehart of Morgantown, West Virginia; her sisters, Sandra Deshotel of St. Augustine, Florida, and Vicki and her husband Mike Rose of Crowley; her brother, Brent and his wife Tina Rosinski Boudreaux of Higginbotham; her brother-in-law Phillip and his wife Debra Smith of Lafayette, five nieces, Julie Smith Politz, Leah Smith Ollestad, Mary Smith Green, Allyson Boudreaux Bayard, and Alexandra Deshotel Masters; two nephews, Jake Smith and Jacques Deshotel and many cousins with whom she was very close in laughter and love. She was preceded in death by her parents, Allie and Anne Smith Boudreaux, and her brother-in-law, Carole Deshotel.

The family requests that visiting hours be observed at Guidry Funeral Home from 9:00 AM until the time of services. A rosary will be recited in the funeral home at 11:00 AM by Deacon Byrne Winn. Please wear yellow in Evelyn's memory. Pallbearers for her urn will be her six grandchildren, Carter Schmitt, Amelie Schmitt, Raz McRae, Smith McRae, Elise Rinehart, and Thomas Rinehart. Honorary pallbearers will be Brent Boudreaux, Al Boudreaux, Vicki Boudreaux, Sandra Deshotel, Kent Thibodeaux, Jake Smith, Jacques Deshotel, Scott Fontenot and Phillip Smith. In lieu of flowers, contributions in memory of Evelyn may be made to the Louisiana Organ Procurement Agency Foundation, 68190 Highway 190 Service Road, Covington, LA 70433-5271 (lopa.org) or to the Academy of the Sacred Heart Chapel Restoration Project, P.O. Box 310, Grand Coteau, LA 70541 (https://sshcoteau.org/donations/chapelrestoration). Guidry Funeral Home, 219 N. Broadway St., Church Point, LA 70525 is in charge of final arrangements.