Dudley Francis Nicolosi Obituary
One glad morning, when his life was over, he flew away.
Dudley Francis Nicolosi, 79, of Plaquemine, La., died Friday, Dec. 23, 2016, while in hospice care at Legacy Nursing Home in Plaquemine from complications due to Parkinson's disease. He was surrounded by his loving family.
"Lil' Dudley" was born on Dec. 17, 1937, in Plaquemine. He spent his childhood getting into mischief with his friends in the Powerhouse Gang on Miriam St. As a teenager, he was an accomplished boxer, and he spent a year at St. Andrew's Military Academy in Sewanee, Tenn., before graduating from Plaquemine High in 1957. On Dec. 28, 1957, in Gulfport, Miss., he married his devoted wife, Kattie Schexnaildre of Thibodeaux, and they started a family.
"Daddy" enlisted in the US Army in 1961 and lived in Darmstadt, Germany, with his young family for two years. In the decades that followed, he worked on the pipelines and owned an antique store. He eventually became the sole proprietor of Nicolosi Electric and was often seen making house calls around town in his green (then gray) old postal van full of tools and equipment and fake bullet holes.
"T-Dud" enjoyed hunting and fishing, going to the camp, "The Blue Goose", and firing up the barbecue. He played piano and trombone and loved to sing praise and worship music as much as country and western or rhythm and blues. He sketched the places from his childhood memories, painted stained glass, collected antiques, tinkered in his garage, planted a garden every year full of tomatoes and cucuzza and mirliton, listened to the Bible at night before bed, and watched sci-fi on TV.
"Paw Paw Dudley" loved teasing his grandkids and telling them stories about Old Blue and Woof Woof and Sambo.
He was raised Episcopalian but found a home in a non-denominational Christian church in the 1980s before converting to Catholicism in 2008 when he joined St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Plaquemine.
Dudley lived most of his life in the home his parents bought in 1955, but his final 20 months were at Legacy Nursing Home in Plaquemine where his wife visited daily from breakfast to supper time.
He was fully loved and will be greatly missed.
Survived by his wife of 59 years, Katherine Ann "Kattie" Schexnaildre Nicolosi; five children: Juanita Stewart and husband Bill of Baton Rouge, Linda Passantino and husband Joe, Joseph Nicolosi and wife Tonya, Michael Nicolosi and wife Susan, all of Plaquemine, and Maria Nicolosi of Austin, Texas; 12 grandchildren: Jonathan Stewart and wife Darby, Amy Stewart, Matthew Stewart and wife JoAnna, Joshua Stewart, Taylor, Megan, and Jolin Passantino, Jarred Nicolosi and girlfriend Janae Truong, Katherine Theriot and husband Dillon, Madison Nicolosi, Jennifer Allain and husband Kris, and Allison Nicolosi; eleven great-grandchildren: Deacon, Kole, Kallie, Emery, Avery, Carter, Blakey, Abigail, Darren, Kaci, Tyler and one on the way, Kamie Rae. Also survived by his half-sister, Elizabeth Walker Rather of Arkansas; along with many nieces, nephews, friends, and cousins.
Preceded in death by his parents Joseph and Nanny Dudley Barrow Nicolosi; three children: David Berchmans, Elizabeth Ann, and Jeremy Francis Nicolosi; three brothers: Louis Joseph and wife Rosamond, David Benson, and John Dudley Nicolosi; and brother-in-law, Walter Rather.
Visiting will be at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Plaquemine on Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2016, from noon until Mass of Christian Burial at 2 p.m. Entombment will follow in Grace Memorial Park Mausoleum. Memorial donations may be made to St. Jude Children's Hospital or National Parkinson Foundation.
