A Tragic Tale
Shanna Riley February 5th, 2008
In 1995, my grandmother and I made a trip out to Immaculate Conception Church Cemetery in Dupont, Louisiana to gather information from the headstones of family members. As my grandmother's illness - scleroderma - progressed, we had taken to going through boxes of old family photos and labeling them. We would sit at the kitchen table and, with her dictation, I would write the names (and dates, if known) on the backs of the photographs.
As part of trying to get down information while she was still with us, we made the trip out to the cemetery, as well as Mater Dolorosa Catholic Cemetery in Plaucheville, to record the exact dates of our many family members - her ancestors - that were buried there in Avoyelles Parish.
As we made our way through the Dupont cemetery, I noticed three graves with ceramic pictures on them that were lined up together in front of the mausoleum. Closer inspection showed it was the final resting place of the young Dupont family - Horace, his wife Rachael, and their nineteen-month old daughter, Milissa - who had all perished on the same date, November 16, 1972.
Naturally, I was intrigued. What could have caused the death of this young family? Car accident? A house fire, perhaps? This being pre-Internet, I wasn't able to Google their names when I returned home. Instead, a few days later, I went to the Louisiana State University's library and spent some time going through the newspaper reels for November, 1972.
It was with great sadness that I came upon a newspaper article detailing the tragic demise of Horace, Rachael, and Milissa Dupont. They had all succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning in their home that November evening. Most likely, they never even knew what was happening. Horace, the article went on to say, was found peacefully on the living room couch - as if he were taking a nap. Little Milissa was lying on her parents' bed and a few feet away, Rachael was found on the floor of an adjoining bathroom.
I can't even begin to imagine the grief their loved ones must have went through. Every time I go the cemetery, I make a point to go by their graves and say a special prayer for them and their families.
After finding Find A Grave, I made sure to add them to the website with photographs of their final resting places and clear shots of their ceramic pictures. The little Dupont family - which was, in all actuality - my first experience with "graving" - will always hold a special place in my heart.
- The Dead
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