Samart Funeral Home of Houma

Students were given time to talk and grieve with each other Monday about the deaths of 17-year-old seniors T.J. Cantrelle, Megan Hitt and Gabrielle Hebert and 15-year-old sophomore Ian Haydel, school President David Keife said.Keife said Cantrell was the football team's starting quarterback and an honor student, Haydel was a teammate, and Hebert was a cheerleader."There's a lot of grief, obviously," Keife said. He described all four students as popular and well-liked. Some of their classmates had been at school with them since prekindergarten, he said.State Police said Cantrelle's pickup truck ran off the road and crashed through a guard rail as the four were returning from Saturday night's LSU football game in Baton Rouge. Relatives told The Courier that one had texted a parent about 1 a.m. Sunday to say they were near home, and parents began looking for them about 3 a.m. When they couldn't find the truck, they called police.A cell phone GPS signal located the truck Sunday about 1:45 p.m., roughly 10 hours after the students were last heard from, police said.The cause of the wreck is under investigation."All of the kids were getting ready for homecoming, the week after next. They all have been very, very good kids; none of them have been problem kids. Not the kind of kids that are even risk-takers," Keife said.He said priests and counselors from the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, counselors from E.D. White Catholic School and parents who have experience counseling came to help the school's counselors, faculty and staff work with any students who wanted counseling.The Samart-Mothe Funeral Home in Raceland said arrangements for Cantrelle's funeral had not been set.Visitation was set for Tuesday evening at Chauvin Funeral Home for Haydel, with his funeral at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at St. Francis de Sales Cathedral. Hitt's funeral will be 11 a.m. Friday at the cathedral, with visitation Thursday evening at Chauvin Funeral Home and Friday morning at the cathedral.Chauvin Funeral Home said Hebert's funer...

Born in Houma, Chauvin served as a medic for many years for New Orleans’ Charity Hospital and taught at the Louisiana State University School of Medicine. He presented the original blueprint for EMS in New Orleans to the city council, an online obituary notes, leading some to call him the father of New Orleans EMS. He was also the first paramedic to teach paramedicine in Louisiana. "Floyd was committed to helping those who couldn’t help themselves," recalls Ken Bouvier, NREMT-P, deputy chief of operations for New Orleans EMS. "I had the opportunity to work side by side with Floyd in the 1970s when I was young in my EMS career. What I remember most about him was the smile on his face when he was sharing his knowledge with new EMTs and paramedics. Floyd help set the course and direction for Louisiana EMS."Visitation will be held from 11 a.m.–1 p.m. Saturday, June 23, at Samart Funeral Home of Houma–West Park, then followed by a memorial service. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the American Red Cross.For more: Samart Funeral Home, Legacy.com.

Jackson “Jack” Croker has been a strong advocate for veterans in the Houma-Terrebonne community since moving to the area in the mid ‘70s.Croker was born in Lake Arthur in 1938, growing up on a farm before joining the Louisiana National Guard at age 17. He enlisted in the Army in 1957 and finished sixth in his class as an honor graduate. He was stationed in California to become a quartermaster, running into a hometown friend as he began his 22-year career.During Croker’s career, he spent time in Nuremberg, Germany, during the trials and Berlin Wall crisis. He served alongside Elvis Presley, who would entertain the men with his guitar and voice.After Germany, he returned to the states at a base near El Paso, Texas, before returning to Germany.Croker continued to serve, transferring to stations in Oklahoma, Vietnam, Kentucky, and Texas before finally becoming a recruiter in Houma. He took a two-year break while in Kentucky, now married with two children.When Croker retired from the Army in 1980, he became an ROTC instructor at South Lafourche High School where he stayed for 10 years.Even in retirement, Croker never left the military behind. He became a member of the American Legion Post 31 and took over as commander. He held many positions within the American Legion and other military-focused groups. Coker hosted a veteran’s show on HTV10 for about five years. He received the Eugene J. Folse Outstanding Veteran Award at the 2018 Houma-Terrebonne Chamber of Commerce banquet. The award was created in honor of HTV owner Martin Folse’s father who was also an active veteran.During his time in Houma, Cocker received three keys to the city and served as grand marshal in the city’s Fourth of July parade, his daughter Sonda Brown said.“Jack did everything he could to help our veterans and community,” said Lee Shaffer, current commander of the American Legion. “He was very civic minded and interested in preserving the idea of Americanism...