Herman "Bert" Bertrand

Kaplan—Funeral services will be held at 3:00 PM on Wednesday, September  1, 2021 at Vincent Funeral Home - Kaplan honoring the life of our beloved father, Papaw, and friend, Herman “Bert” Bertrand, who at 88, traded in his good, long life here for a heavenly one, on Monday, August 30th, 2021, while at Harbor Hospice Hospital in Lake Charles, La. He died after going into renal failure as a complication of diabetes. He will be laid to rest at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Cemetery with Deacon Tom Sommers officiating the services. Visitation will be from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM on Wednesday, September 1st, 2021. A rosary will be said at 2pm and then a eulogy and honorings/stories afterward.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Lincoln and Virginia Bertrand of Mamou, his brother, Elvin Bertrand, and sister, Jane Elden Ortego. He was also preceded in death by our loving mother and his wife of 56 years, Beverly Guillory Bertrand along with their oldest son, Herman Bertand, Jr.

He is survived by his four children, Ramona Breedlove and companion, Harlan Chatagnier, Brian Bertrand and his wife, Geralyn “Gigi”,  Jackie and her husband, Dr. Clifton Vaughan, and Dr. Skipper Bertrand and his wife, Cindy; his companion of 13 years, Madora Davis of Lake Charles, who loved and cared greatly for him; his grandkids who loved him dearly, Arizona Pearson (Brad), Eva and Peyton Breedlove (Megan), Adriana Chatagnier, Renee Bertrand (Fiancé Coby Bengtson), Angelle Pearce (Jonathan), Courtney Bertrand, Aimee’, Andree, and Jacques Louvierre, Nathan Herpin (Jessica) and Cassidy and Riley Collins; plus four bonus grandkids; and 15 great grandkids.

With barely a 6th grade education, Bert went on to accomplish much in his business life to include a successful non-emergency ambulatory transportation service, Bert’s Medi Van. He later changed its name and direction to Bert's Med Van, to serve the energy industry with personnel transportation. He and Beverly employed numerous employees, service vendors, and provided jobs for family members for years. He bought so many vans from Acadiana Ford for his company that they asked him to star in a commercial which was shown on ESPN when Lafayette was in the Little League World Series. With his very cajun accent, he ended the commercial saying, “They treat me just like family!”

Most people will remember Bert as the owner of the FREEZO in Kaplan for 15 years, where people would come from miles around to eat his famous chili dogs and chili mixes, shoot pool, play the jukebox, and cut up with him. He was well loved by the teens in the area for giving them a job, listening to their stories, breaking up their fights, and was known to spike their cokes around Christmas. Bert said it was a great job, he loved eating ice cream and drinking beer while he worked! He was proud of the fact that he had the first Icee machine and chicken broaster in Acadiana.

Bert was definitely not all business, he was pretty “canaille”. He was friendly, outgoing, a teaser and could get away with it, like when he'd call the heavyset waitress "Slim". He loved to pull pranks and laugh like when he'd put exploding cigarette loads in people's cigarettes or the time he slipped a blue dye pill in his worker’s malt, who called in the next day, to say he couldn’t go to school or work because he was peeing blue! As with most kids, we were excited to see the seagulls following the ferry until dad, just for laughs, said, "Watch this” and put Tabasco on the bread before throwing it to the seagulls, just to watch them dive into the water for relief! His shenanigans even included our friends. Growing up, friends and grandkids were always careful not to have their toes near him or else they would get pulled or cracked and he might “peesh nook” their funny bone to shock them!

As the son of a carpenter and house card player, Bert's parents taught him not to lie or steal. He said: "You didn't mess up, cause if you did you’d get a whipping. They raised me with a belt when I needed it. And I deserved it too.” Bert began working in the cotton and rice fields at a young age. His first real job was bartending in his home town at the age of 12. While the owner and Bert's dad played cards, he tended to the customers. He said that working hard was one of the most important lessons his father ever taught him. Bert went on to have a variety of jobs in order to support his family, marrying at 17 to his 15 year old bride. He was a milkman, worked in refineries, and in construction. He also worked offshore as a crane operator and sold every product radio broadcaster, Paul Harvey, ever endorsed! As a door to door salesman, he went around South Louisiana selling energy efficient windows and doors, water purifiers, metallic buildings, fences, solar panels, advertising, Amway, and he even sold cigars!

One of his most fun hobbies was flying, although it was short lived. He took flying lessons with a crop duster for one day, never earned a license, bought his own plane with Ray Morvant and scared many a farmer off their tractors as he buzzed over them, so low, just to see them jump off! Dare devil that he was, he would fly under the telephone wires but after flying under a bridge, the State Police eventually grounded him as a danger to society!

He loved family vacations, camping with friends and cousins, going to the casino, cooking and playing cards with his good friends, being the euchre legend that he was! He traveled much of the US and even went to visit family in Germany and France.

Our family has great consolation in knowing that in the last part of his life, he came to know the love and mercy of Jesus Christ and tried to share that with others.

In lieu of flowers, please arrange that Masses be said in memory of our dad or contribute, in his honor, to Eightdaysofhope.com, a Christian non-profit that aids families affected by floods.