The Journey of an American Change Agent

This is a time for me to think about where my life has been going and where it may go in the context of my long interest in making some differences. My life has been about change and about continuity. There is little else in human experience but one or the other.  Even my spiritual and religious life has actually been about both of those things.

The baptism of my niece Cecilia was one of many rituals in my life.

The baptism of my niece Cecilia was one of many rituals in my life.

The travels and efforts that have formed me and my worldview have been numerous. This is a time when I am working to help the lawn I keep up transition from winter to early spring. Some potential harmful surprises were concealed in the leaves thickest areas. But I removed these metal objects by raking before mulching or mowing. Yet it seems hard to be a coincidence. but such routine challenges do dot make for great dramatic challenges. This is also the season of the Winter Olympics. Here is one of many stories from an Olympics where America has beaten Russia in the open round of the Hockey tournament, gotten its first two man bobsled medal in over half a century and won the ice dancing gold medal.  http://www.cbsnews.com/news/winter-olympics-2014-usas-bode-miller-and-andrew-weibrecht-win-medals-in-olympic-super-g/

But in my life I have had more colorful events over time. Nothing like the heights of Olympic fame and celebrity but plenty of adventures. There are memories of this across my life.

Me leading my sisters on a Carabao on Mindanao in the Philippines

Me leading my sisters on a Carabao on Mindanao in the Philippines

In addition to travel and unusual circumstances I have been engaged in conversation and correspondence across the years as well. In various ways seeking to find a path of integrity and follow the truth. That has underpinned my political and social objectives.

My groomsmen and ushers and I at my wedding

My groomsmen and ushers and I at my wedding

 

The people I have spent my time with and worked and talked with over the years have not always remained the same. Overall I am probably in a fairly precipitous decline of influence on some measures and not on others. Certainly the circumstances of my youth have changed and the divorce of many years ago has not led to another marriage for example.

Michelle and I kiss on our wedding day.

Michelle and I kiss on our wedding day.

 

But there has been a life’s journey nonetheless. I continue to use this an other outlets to connect my personal life to the causes I seek to support. What will happen is unclear at best. But I have  not stopped seeking to engage and in using this blog one can find what my engagement consists of for the time being.

My sister Sarah and I at a technical school graduation in Mexico

My sister Sarah and I at a technical school graduation in Mexico

 

I am hurrying out into the fog to meet my sisters and then to run some errands. Perhaps I will attend a free evening concert outdoors. My life is not usually panicked or excessively strictured.  However, I do seek to live out a set of objectives over time and those are still evident even as things seem to be winding down for me in many ways. This is a sort of new introduction to this blog for any needing one. There will be others over the next few weeks assuming I survive and am able to post them. I hope this blog will have a place in my future.

Running Out of Hope?

A few random things on the trivial end of my grandmother's estate when it was inventoried.

A few random things on the trivial end of my grandmother’s estate when it was inventoried.

I am not entirely out of hope yet. I am coming off  another holiday which was not entirely cheerful or entirely bad. I am filled with reflections on many choices I have made and I respect most of the choices I have made. My options seem to be ever shrinking and I am tired. I see many alarming trends in the country and the world. I have done and adventured in directions that were costly and have left me with few avenues of progress available. But I am not yet without hope. I may be running out of hope for a life I would ever smile much about and feel better about than this but things could be worse. I am not very happy but I have been more depressed. Nonetheless, I am thinking that without an unforeseeable improvement I will change my life quite a bit soon.  That is not from any great heights but simply to a more even basement of life I suppose.

When I think back on all the objects that have defined my life and the lives of those around me. I think of things inherited, made, bought, sold, given and received.  Each transaction and venture had its own story and character. In the room where I currently live are a few objects from my grandmother — although none from the photograph above. There are also two copies of my novel and some things from China. I sit near the tapestry pictured in this post and a picture of me as a child in front of the Parthenon.

The novel I wrote online before many but never yet published receives paper form.
The novel I wrote online before many but never yet published receives paper form.
work up of a possible cover for the Culkathadreil Novel

work up of a possible cover for the Culkathadreil Novel

Writing a novel of over six hundred pages and having many people read it or part of it in the worst online format imaginable is a process and I am pleased with the novel. My overall situation in life does not please me much. I am planning to leave behind my Facebook Account on April 15 and my place of life here on June 15 of 2014. However, I will be glad to keep this site going a bit longer. Nonetheless, I am in contraction mode as my life here has been amazingly non-sustaining for some time. I have been involved with some good things and people but overall things have been slipping off course for decades.

A picture I bought on the Wan Fun Jing from an artist going by the English name Merrick

A picture I bought on the Wan Fun Jing from an artist going by the English name Merrick

A gift from my friend Lu Ting-ting this past Christmas and Chinese New Year

A gift from my friend Lu Ting-ting this past Christmas and Chinese New Year

The most recent personal new is that I have registered this domain name. Now one need not put in the WordPress bit. I think however, that this is more about digging in than expanding in any way. Nonetheless, in a life spent as mine has been and with the views I hold there is no time for complete surrender. One must hope simply to find the right death with one’s boots on are in a dignified sick bed. Until that day comes my struggle continues. Those of you who read this blog are entitled to join me as this journey plays out.

 

Worrying About American Safety at the Olympics

I am concerned this morning about the safety of American athletes in Russia. The Olympics is a great symbolic gathering for sport and international dialog. I feel that there is risk of it becoming a venue for assault on Americans at the last part of these games. It seems the games are poorly attended despite great expense by Russia in providing them. There are two reasons fro this which Russians are likely to be aware of in every hour. One is Islamic terrorism and militancy and the other is the US led denunciation of their domestic policies about sex.

Today is a special day for symbols of a happy kind. Happy Valentine’s Day! I cheer and salute the love, romance, betrothals, special friendships and marriage in the world. I want that to stand alone and so I have made it my thought in a status update below. However, It is also the case that on this Valentine’s Day besides sexy gifts, flowers and for a few the memory of a Bishop and martyr who helped poor girls find dowries to be able to marry — the world is spinning around. We have our customs related to these things and we have a lot of problems of our own with sex in America. Right now there is a lawsuit in my hometown by a student expelled for sexual misconduct. He is suing the school and alleging racial discrimination and the whole thing is a microcosm of all the the tensions and many of the absurdities of our society. Even I can find fault with myself here as I once wrote along list of complaints about schools in which I listed condoms at schools as one sign of too loose of a view of sex for adolescents. I never have opposed kids receiving information about condoms nor having access to them but simply putting them out like a kind of textbook when kids ought to be encouraged to wait. But in the absurdity of our society (others are absurd in other ways) it is easy to say the young man who impregnated two girls (allegedly) should never have been allowed anywhere without condoms. He should also have been expelled from the school earlier but that does not deal with the school’s faults in all of this. The truth is thousands of American instances of sexual dysfunction occur every day. In the Olympic charter and elsewhere it is pretty clear that this is not the venue for attacking the domestic policy of host countries.

So the question emerges whether some part of the security framework in Russia will allow Islamists to penetrate the ring of steel to kill Americans? I think it is not impossible. I think Obama has not made American security and success here his top priority. The next question is what is the threat?

The threat is that in Pakistan we see sophisticated drilling with large numbers of suicide bombers with fake ID cards and models for planning, In Afghanistan experienced fighters have been released from prison, in Iraq masses of suicide bombers are being trained in a way which strains their trainers capacities. That is all the current applicable risk. The conditions are that Islamic secessionist forces in Dagestan and Chechnya are eager to provide a conduit of support and avenue of attack for Islamist assailants against the Olympics. The overall climate is that European and Russian intelligence are more resentful and less eager to cooperate with America than usual. I am not sure President Obama is on our side and does not want to provoke an incident with Russia but whatever he wants this may still happen in a really horrible way. I will breathe easier after the closing ceremonies end peacefully than I ever have for any other Olympics. This is not a small risk.

The State of the Union and The Winter Storm at Big Woods

This is nothing compared to last Friday

This is nothing compared to last Friday

For us winter is not the time that tries souls and resources in normal years. The real trials are in hurricane season and to some degree in the summer when heat, bugs, humidity and plant growth (as well as a few hurricanes and storms threaten to wipe out civilization here each year and are resisted. But this is an unusual year for weather, it is a hard year for Barack Obama’s presidency and for the United States as well. I am writing this blog in the midst of a situation where ordinary life is rendered difficult because our planning designing and building here addresses other challenges than the cold. Elevated to avoid floods our insulated pipes only resist short light freezes and we must cut off running water to this and other houses when a hard freeze lasts for days. Nonetheless, things are not too bad, we struggle and prepare well. I get uncomfortable about the feeling of the US government’s attitude toward adversity. But to go into detail about how there is  a lack of realism is beyond the scope of this post. I sat home reasonably warm and safe and watched the State of the Union amid a day with unusual chores and regular chores and tasks made more trying by the lack of some regular conveniences and the presence of a storm. The storm is big news around the country. But we are being preemptive and are getting through it so far. Well, it is good we have been spared much of the ice storm so far. But an ice drizzle has been falling for an hour or more. A bucket I showed in my Facebook timeline and also here shows half an hour’s accumulation. The covers for orange trees are holding although the orange trees were hit earlier in the year and are weak. The horses came to the corral on their own and are not locked in but whether to lock them and when to feed them are tactical questions — all about optimizing limited resources. My mother Genie Summers made it home safely and is out helping John Paul Summers and Jill Thompson with their house. I made pigs in blankets for Dad and I. The Summers place is rolling with the as yet not so brutal storm in this area and trying to make the best of it.

I gave the horses hay again as I did last time the ice covered their grazing pasture  five days ago.

I gave the horses hay again as I did last time the ice covered their grazing pasture five days ago.

Well, I watched the State of the Union and the Republican Response. Fewer Americans are gainfully employed to a significant degree than most people realize. The President proposed more not really responsible benefits. he did make some real points about jobs going overseas while he worked at programs that will make Americans less employable.

I do appreciate his attentiveness to Veterans in the speech and his desire to see a credible Presidency. I am not sure he is ill intentioned in all the things I disagree with him about but we do disagree. I liked Congresswoman and Representative Rodger’s response pretty well.

But my own response has mostly been laid out in countless posts and articles over many years. In addition we face many other issues besides labor force participation — but that is my issue tonight.

Physical Geometry an Overview: my personal unified field theory

Dimensions:

Origin: God who may also be almost anything other than this within certain parameters.
Universe origin: The point from which our dominant time radiant begins.
particular origin: That point at which the four dimensions of any spherical system are derived
fractal origin: the point which can be regarded as intrinsic to but other than a particular origin.
Relative origin: an origin not regarded for its intrinsic relationship to the particular origin.
Magnitude: the distance on a radiant from an origin and the relative and determined size and volume of the sphere occurring at that placepoint.
Moment: the point in time and progression at which a given set of values exists and operates.
Longitude: One of an infinite interlocking set of circles of equal length sharing two points with all other longitudes when regarded as lines in a perfect sphere.
Latitude: One of an infinite set of independent circles of paired length when regarded as lines in a perfect sphere.

Fabricands

Time absolute: That set of radiants which leave Origin defining moments and creating temporality.
Time: That radiant along which by definition our Universe is arranged
Space Absolute: those sets of longitudes and latitudes relative to and connecting with all Time radiants.
Spacetime: the principal subject of this discipline.
Matter: That which is primarily derivative of criticality of dimension in spiraling a realine across the surface of a sphere and which is inherently dormant in all latitudes.
Energy: That which causes the propagation of all radiants and is inherently restive and present in all latitudes.

Elements

graviton: one of what may be regarded as an infinite set of a geometrically complete form of rays and line segments equal often to a radiant and usually having negligible mass but possible having any mass whatever proceeding toward the particular origin or any origin in any spherical system. Each graviton is paired with a radiant which tends strongly to be identical in length.

radiant: one of what may be regarded as an infinite set of a geometrically complete form of rays and line segments equal often to a graviton and usually having negligible mass but possible having any mass whatever proceeding toward the particular origin or any origin in any spherical system.. Each radiant is paired with a graviton which tends strongly to be identical in length.
reproductive fractor: a point at which a new spherical system intrinsic to and derivative the previous particular origin functions as a particular origin.
transmission fractor: that system by which new reproductive factors are communicated and established.
natural union: the evident dominant surface of a spherical system.
subordinate union: the evident surfaces of spherical systems which are not dominant.
accidental union: the joint spatial system created by the interplay of multiple spherical sytems interacting in ameaningful way.
Dimensional Spiroid: a spiraling line defining and revealing the dimensional fabric of a system or accidental union.

In space (which is intrinsically part of space-time) there is a basic structure which it is essential to understand for there to be much progress in other areas of thought. Here are the basic principles:
All points in space are points of origin.
Space is what is measured when a distance from a point of origin is brought out to any of an infinite number of points of magnitude in any direction from any point of magnitude.
Once any value magnitude is reached that point is reached by a ray or radiant which is numerically identical to an infinite set of such rays or radiants and that set together form a sphere.
The sphere formed has two principal dimensions. Those are latitude and longitude. These are distinct dimensions which effectively map the surface of the sphere.
The sphere and all related elements of it are seen to travel forward on the time radiant progressing to increasing values of our times radiant’s universal moment. Moment is the fourth dimension.
Thus magnitude, longitude, latitude and moment define space time.
Most of the relevant facts and realities of physical geometry come from following the implications of these principal facts carefully and honestly. These six facts of general structure provide the basis for organizing all other data properly. Radiants have a counterpart proto-element called a graviton which are nobly and generally related to them as their obverse inverse coterminous component. It is not absolute but the general rule that all real space is occupied by an infinite number of radiants and gravitons. All radiants and gravitons are conical in shape and have a real thickness and dimension which is too small to be measurable and cannot be properly expressed as a rational number. Both gravitons and radiants have a thickness of fS*M/∞ which means the physical geometric function of its conical shape multiplied by it magnitude divided by infinity. The surface area of all spheres in space is / 4πM^2∕3
The cone surface increases as a function of the increase in the magnitude of the observed radiant. It decreases with the decrease of the magnitude of the graviton and these are separate functions and proto-elements. But all gravitons and radiants have a thickness of (/(4πM^2)⁄3)/∞.
While this is not a rational number it is a testable and observable physical fact.

Having established this basic description of the universe of space-time it is from there that in other components we can map the origins of the universe and the relations of space –time theory as described by Einstein with quantum physics as described by Bohr. Thus we have the simple observable space time revealed in a matter which rationalizes energy and matter as well. But that is not discussed in this brief introduction. Nor do radiants and gravitons have an infinite length, their length stops when it can no longer be measured or observed and has not absolute meaning otherwise.
First, the mass of the Universe equal the average weight of the units of space contained in the dimensions of longitude and latitude at the magnitude the sphere of space has reached as affected by the function of moment throughout that sphere orU=[(L.f.l)M]fm — Of course we do not presume at this point to know the function of moment and do not start believing a priori that all mass, energy and information is preserved across time or the moment dimension in the universe as we know it. Therefore we marry this fact of the mass of the universe to the fact that time is a radiant which is four dimensional space as much as it is anything else and that also the same mass U={[(4ΠM²)/3]/A}fm given that A represents the number and functional value of radiants in the system from which the time radiant derived. Thus we see that if this theory is correct the mass of the universe ought to be [(L.f.l)M]fm={[(4ΠM²)/3]/A}fm and we do not know much else yet. This is what physical geometry can tell us about the mass of the Universe just from basic principles. When the radiant is remapped into a three dimensional sphere most of the mass is transferred into dark energy by simply shifting the manner of perceiving it. Other mass is made into dark matter as it recedes beneath the surface of the sphere and its near surface..

However, while allowing for some deviation which flows from complex problems not to be reached in this note the whole of space should behave as though it were in a radiant if in fact it is a radiant and therefore its base behavior should be that it expands over time and its rate should be predictable.
The area of all space in our universe in Physical Geometry is 4πm∕3where m is the absolute moment. Because three dimensional space is the surface of the time radiant of a different universe. The cone surface increases as a function of the increase in the magnitude of the observed radiant which from our point of view is an increase in three dimensional space. The rate of expansion of our universe ought to be r ={ [ (4πM23)b -(4πM23)a]/(mb-ma)} There are often crucial typos in my equations and also ambiguities so let me say that where b is greater than b , the base rate of expansion of the universe should be 4 times pi times the square of the magnitude of the line from the point of the big bang regarded as a radiant divided by three times b minus 4 times pi times the square of the magnitude of the line from the point of the big bang regarded as a radiant divided by three times a divided by the product of the moment and b minus the product of the moment and a. Thus if the size of the universe is relative X and b is 4 and a is 2 then the universe is expanding at a rate 4x-2x divided by 2m. Moment in universal terms is the amount of time it takes for the universe to expand from one size to another as a function of the surface of a sphere. However the reason for the apparent and real increase in rate can be determined from physical geometry as well but that is for another document. It has to do with the decreasing graviton qualities of space in our universe as we separate from the mother universe.

Physical Geometry, Succinct Cosmology: External Structure of a Radiant — Temporal implications

This is, as with the note on the internal structure of radiants, relevant to all radiants but most of the variable remain zero or unmeasurable. So it is most relevant to transformational radiants and gravitons of which the most important is the central temporal radiant which contains all space and which we call time. For any radiant there is a line in its center returning to its point of origin whether it is transformational or not. By intersecting line with this line and proceeding to the end of the dominance of the radiant where it is obstructed by another dominant radiant or where it ends in the case of an escaped transformational radiant like time which does not exist in a perfect spherical system but is formed for and has the qualities of a component of such a system. This line across the surface of the radiant is denoted in our fledgeling discipline as δ. The area which is defined as the thickness of a radiant is (4M²3). And in the case of transformational radiants we replace infinity with A. We define the central structure of the radiant as occupying an area equal to area=Πδ² and it is to this area which the previous notes applied directly as to the internal structure of the radiant. There is in every radiant an area not in this central structure. That remaining area of thickness equals remainder = [(4M²3)A]-Πδ² for a real number or replace A with infinity for almost all radiants and it is a real pattern with no knowable numeric value. In a perfect spherical system the radiants remainder is about equal to 2δ²-Πδ²allowing for distorting effects of a curved surface so that we would say the remaining area is f[(2δ)²-Πδ²]These remainders would be made up of a fractal array of micro radiants functioning in large part with neutral dynamism or as gravitons with the largest near the central structure and the smallest near the corners of the curved square. The rest of the space will be filled with nothing. In the eight dimensional universe from which ours descends the corners would be the places defined most by flexion, counter-moment and spatial temperature. In our universe they are mostly normal spacetime in spherical systems with a few aberrant qualities. In the four dimensional temporal transformational radiant in which our universe exists we have an escaped system where the central radiant is able to expand without much resistance being surrounded by a set of one dimensional proto-universes which largely resemble nothing in the abstract sense. Thus we have very little development and in our universe this is aberrant and chaotic and unpredictable space-time. It is in this space at the surface that when curved into a three-dimensional sphere exotic quantum effects, wormholes, time-travel and other magical physics would exist. These are rare because time is an escaped transformational radiant and not part of a perfect spherical system after the event described as the Big Bang.
While standard physics and trigonometry propose to solve the problems of dark matter only with relatively greatly difficult and dubious means our fledgling discipline proposes a somewhat simpler answer. Physical Geometry proposes that by regarding the four dimensional space radiant’s functional surface to be equivalent to the three dimensional sphere of space otherwise equally true to the model predicted by physical geometry. However this begs the fairly obvious question: what of the rest of the radiant?

First of all by surface we mean some functional value of thickness greater than zero when one in measuring not around the radiant or across the surface of the sphere but down into it. Nonetheless, most of the sphere is not involved in these surfaces nor most of the radiant. While similar proportions apply to the other radiants the structure of the time radiant specifically may be said to be:fT={fm[(4M² /3) /A] +[((43M³) /A)-( ( 43M²) /A)]} . The greater portion of the content of the time radiant would not be part of the functional surface which is translated into the sphere of three dimensional space but would consist of the string like wakes and shadows which connect the surface to the Big Bang and earlier points in radiant history. From the point of view of the three dimensional space sphere we would then believe that while dark matter we detect today is in fact in a sense the active energy and matter of time itself the whole universe is haunted by and in a sense soaked like a sponge with an ether after all. That ether in coarsest terms is past time. While time moves forward and expands it also remains behind. Thus the big bang and the previous universe we call the mother universe are in a certain limited sense still happening and deep strings of dark energy of fluctuating and finite number which is enormously large join the present universe to its origins and the mother universe. It is in that vast body of undetected energy that the destiny ultimate human science must be found if it endures a long time and progresses.

Some Personal News and Thoughts

I am more devoted than not to my own Facebook timeline over other outlets these days. But this is going to be discontinued as of April 15 (or 15th of April) if nothing large changes in my life for the better. I will perhaps keep this blog as it is for a while. On June 15 I will probably radically simplify my life and not in any ideal way. But I have simply no reason to maintain such a substantial web presence when my personal life is so weak and poor. Without a job, fortune, regular church parish or anything else this nexus of work and a kind of fame is a consolation I cannot really afford. I will let my connections there and in some other places go and admit my life has been a long struggle in more or less defeated causes. I am eager to live each day meanwhile with as much meaning as possible. One thing going on is that my sister Sarah is moving into a new home with her family.

My sister Sarah Summers Granger and Kevin Joseph Granger are moving their furniture today into their new house. all the rain and a now repaired pipe leak have made the ground near their new home soft and deep where the turf was scraped away. I pray nothing gets stuck or buried in that soft ground during all of this. I will try to help them move a little bit.

I have not been able to resolve my own problems and difficulties with any number of people throughout my life. I have become more or less isolated and it has perhaps been God’s will that all would come to such isolation. But I pray for Sarah and her children to have a long and happy life and much of it to be here in the new house at Big Woods. Better than I could hope and without the things I might fear.

For any who still read this blog regularly I wish you all the best. I am not yet sure how much time and energy I will devote here. It may actually increase in the short term,

2013 in review: Blog in Decline but Not Gone Yet . . .

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,800 times in 2013. If it were a cable car, it would take about 30 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Chinese land Jade Rabbit, 玉兔 (yu tu) rover on the Moon

Congratulations to the Chinese people and society for landing the Jade Rabbit, 玉兔 (yu tu) rover on the Moon. This is a wonderful achievement of human and social potential. I hope China will continue to play an important role in bringing all of humanity into dynamic involvement with lunar resources in the full sense of those words.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25382049 The reports of their successful landing are certainly among the most important recent events in science and human development news on the large international scale. We can only hope this will be another step to ward the future of lunar colonization. http://www.channel4.com/news/china-the-first-moon-landing-in-38-years-and-the-mystery-ma  Of course everyone is far from discussing such things now but this is at least activity.

Mandela — Madiba Passes

Today Nelson Mandela died. He was a man who combined many admirable qualities and who helped bring about change favored by his own people and suffered for seeking change by serving a long prison sentence and in other ways. Notably he sought a regular and constitutional transition and tried to wisely combine socialist and capitalist elements of his restoration and revolutionary program. Under his tenure the economy survived, future administrations were made possible and South Africa was able to capitalize on it ties to the British Commonwealth as well as it fund of international goodwill. On the other hand South Africa is a dangerous crime-ridden country with brewing radical disruptive factions and elements. It is surrounded by neighbors in which open genocidal black racism is increasingly advocated.

The Union survives as economically viable but we are aware that Elon Musk who may be the greatest inventor-entrepreneur alive today is a native White South African who has become a US citizen. What there is of South Africa’s technical sector is shrouded in uncertainty. There is a great deal of complexity to his legacy and to the future of issues he confronted in his life. But we can surely applaud his sustained and committed effort to do the best he could for his country as he saw it.

Fr. Donald Theriot

Fr. Donald Theriot

Fr. Theriot was born on November 20, 1931 in Gueydan, Louisiana.  He was preceded in death by his parents, Lorette A. Theriot and Laura Mae Gooch Theriot; and his sister Betty Mae Theriot Lowe. The Theriot Grand Famille or extended family are a very significant association and people in Acadiana and Louisiana and Acadian heritage and life. Fr. Theriot was never unaware of his heritage nor unwilling to undertake responsibilities which might arise from it despite all his priestly, institutional and other obligations. Olivier Theriot was the second highest ranking person among the Acadian people beside Joseph Broussard dit Beausoleil during the founding of the new Acadia Nouvelle Acadie and was the chief of the Lafourche des Chetimache Bayou Acadians.  This status did not originate with Olivier Theriot but rather relates to the high status of the Theriot clan as well as Olivier’s personal qualities.

His funeral mass today at St. Mary Magdalen Church and it was at the same church that he presided over my wedding to Michelle Denise Broussard nearly 26 years ago. Although that marriage was long ago ended in civil divorce and ecclesiastically annulled, Michelle was still the person I have been closest to in my life and thus it was a very important occasion for me. Fr. Theriot was not a close friend but was also a friend and confidant and a major supporter of Vermilion Catholic High School where I have many associations and ties over the years and was a supporter of the local community in many manifestations. I seldom spoke with him in recent years but I will remember him for as long as I am remembering things. His commitment to causes he believes in continues in death. In lieu of flowers donations may be sent to Vermilion Catholic High School where a scholarship endowment will be established in his memory

He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Lafayette on June 1, 1957 and served as Associate Pastor in the parishes of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Lafayette and St. Mary Magdalen in Abbeville, two of the more prestigious assignments in our local church. Upon elevation to the role of pastor he never flinched or shirked his duty, Fr. Theriot devotedly served as Pastor of the parishes of St. Mary of the Lake, Big Lake; Our Lady of Prompt Succor, Coteau; St. Anne, Cow Island; St. Pius X, Lafayette. His final assignment was as Pastor of St. Mary Magdalen Parish in Abbeville from which he retired in 2002. Fr. Theriot remained in the Abbeville community from the time of his retirement where he continued to remain active in his priestly ministry in St. Mary Magdalen Parish as well as serving a Chaplain for the Vermilion Catholic Athletic Department.

He is survived by his brother, Gordon R. Theriot of Kenner, Louisiana; his brother-in-law, Kenneth B. Lowe of Kansas City, Missouri; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Fr. Theriot was certainly a real and important presence in my life. In fact, I grew up a close friend and associate of one of his first cousins, Kay Piazza Listi (Mrs. Vince Listi) and her immediate family. To a lesser degree I knew and know all of the family into which she was born and my mother’s family was always associated with them in a variety of ways.  I attended some of the well attended visitation held on Thursday, November 14, 2013 at Vincent Funeral Home of Abbeville from 5:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. arriving a bit before the start of the Vigil Service and Rosary at 7:00 p.m. and leaving shortly afterwards. I was not able to attend the visitation at St. Mary Magdalen Church on Friday, November 15, 2013 from 8:00 a.m. until the time of the Funeral Mass at 10:00 or the rosary prayed at St. Mary Magdalen Church on Friday morning at 8:15 a.m. led by the students and staff of Vermilion Catholic High School. Vermilion Catholic was much in evidence at the rosary I did attend.  Nor did I attend the Mass of Christian Burial at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church. But I am joined to these observances honoring the life and praying for the repose of the soul of Father Donald C. Theriot, who died at 81 a week short of his 82d birthday passing away instead on my mother’s 70th birthday –Wednesday, November 13, 2013. He finished a long struggle with various sicknesses and infirmities at the Louisiana Extended Care Hospital of Lafayette.

He should be laid to rest as I type these words in a ceremony at St. Paul Cemetery after  the Most Rev. Michael Jarrell, Bishop of Lafayette, celebrates the Funeral Mass as I am finish typing these words. St. Mary Magdalen’s pastor  Rev. William C. Blanda who spoke at and lead the service last night should be serving as  Master of Ceremonies and the Rev. Louis Richard  and Abbeville man also present and involved in funeral details is to be preaching the funeral homily.

May he rest in peace and his legacy long be assured. He was a quietly extraordinary man.