Louis Avery Dartez

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11:00 AM on Thursday, May 12, 2022 at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church honoring the life of Louis Avery Dartez. Following the ceremony, he will be laid to rest in the church cemetery which adjoins St. Alphonsus Catholic Church in Maurice, Louisiana.

Louis Avery Dartez passed away peacefully on May 7th at the age of 96. He was born on December 12, 1925, to Marie LeBlanc Dartez and Joseph Avery Dartez and was the seventh of their ten children.  He was preceded in death by his wife of 64 years, Barbara Ann Jackson Dartez, who was the love of his life and his constant companion.  Throughout their marriage they amazingly only spent one night apart.  Louis is survived by 25 loving nieces and nephews, and an even greater number of grand nieces and nephews.  He was affectionately referred to as "Uncle Lou” and was widely regarded as everyone’s favorite uncle.

Louis was born in Maurice, Louisiana, and graduated from Abbeville High School.  Louis had a fascination with airplanes and flying, beginning from a day in the early 1930s when he was seven years old and a bootlegger landed a small airplane in a nearby field.  He served his country during World War II in the Air Force.  He shared this passion with Barbara and they both became licensed aircraft pilots.  They enjoyed traveling the southern United States in their own Cessna aircraft.

Louis and Barbara had a shared sense of adventure and toured Europe for three months in 1956.  Upon returning from Europe, Louis enrolled in courses at the University of Houston.  In 1959 Louis and Barbara established the Dart Company, a graphic arts service company.  The Dart Company provided graphic arts to many of the major oil companies in the Houston area.  Louis and Barbara worked side-by-side at their company for 32 years until their retirement in the 1990s.

Louis was a kind and gentle man and he was also a great listener.  A regular at the Dartez family reunions, Louis had an uncanny ability to extract all the best insider stories from his nieces and nephews. This was much to the chagrin of Louis’ siblings, their parents, who were left to wonder what family secrets had been divulged.

Louis and Barbara shared an interest in genealogy.  They spent considerable time during their retirement traveling and researching archives throughout the United States and France to painstakingly record and document over 14 generations of the Dartez family.  A culmination of their extensive research was shared with their family in a newsletter published periodically during the mid-1990s titled “Dartes’ Lineage.”

In 1997 Louis published his recollections of growing up during the Depression in a memoir titled, “The Formative Years, Growing Up in Vermillion Parish.”  This wonderful recounting of his life is rich in family history, anecdotal stories and priceless memories that are forever recorded and is an everlasting gift to his large and extended family.

The family would like to extend a special thanks to Diane Ansley.  Louis was able to remain in his home thanks to the excellent care provided by Diane the last five years.

Relatives and friends of the family are invited to attend a visitation on Thursday, May 12th at 9:00 AM at Vincent Funeral Home, 209 S. Saint Charles St., Abbeville, Louisiana.