Pecan Story Martin Gauthier:

I was probably 8 or 10 years old before I realized that pecans didn't fall on the ground in groups of 10 or so.  During the pecan season, we often searched for pecans during our frequent visits to grandparents Peter and Lucie.  Pope' would grab the little ones by the hand and take us under a certain tree.  There were more than a dozen large pecan trees in the yard.  He would send the big kids off to hunt under other trees and the little ones would hunt under his prepared tree.  "Look, look over here under this pile of leaves" he would say.  There we would find two adult hands full of pecans.  "You might look by the fallen branch." The same finding.  "I wonder if there are some behind the tree near the trunk?"  His suggestions never failed.

He was not a large man physically, but he remains very large in my memory.

Death Story As told by Genevieve Gauthier Floyd:

Peter Gauthier is the son of Sarah Anne Bettevy.  Peter's father Michael died at an early age, about 1890, and Sarah was left with 5 children to raise, one that was born after husband Michael's death.

Years later Sarah moved to Baton Rouge, La. to live with her son-in-law Wilfred Dugas and daughter Isabelle Gauthier Dugas.  She lived in Baton Rouge with them for many years until her death in November 1955.

Son, Peter Gauthier, lived at that time in the large family home in Sunshine, La.  Peter was retired and suffering greatly from cancer.  When his mother, Sarah Anne died in Baton Rouge, Peter's youngest daughter Genevieve Gauthier Floyd drove from Baton Rouge to Sunshine to tell her dad that his mother had just died, since there was not a phone at the Sunshine home.

As she drove up to the house, he met her.  She said there was bad news.  He said, "I already know.  Mother came to me last night and held my hand and said it was time for us to go"!

Peter died the following month, December 19, 1955 following his suffering from lung cancer.