Patricia Boudreaux Davidson

Patricia Ann Boudreaux Davidson, April 9, 1926 – December 30, 2022, was called to our Lord’s Kingdom after 96 years of being an angel on earth. She was a light in the lives of both her children and her siblings. The youngest of seven children born to parents Alphonse L. Boudreaux and Loretta Senac Boudreaux, she spent a happy childhood in the small town of Berwick in St. Mary Parish. She graduated from Morgan City High School in 1943 as class valedictorian and then attended Touro School of Nursing in New Orleans. She was also valedictorian of her nursing class and made many life-long friends in the Touro Class of 1946. In 1945 she married Paul Lawrence Davidson, Jr. —the love of her life and friend since age 12—at the naval base in Corpus Christi before he was shipped out to the Pacific. When he returned home from the Navy, they moved to Baton Rouge where Paul continued his studies at LSU under the G.I. Bill. As a Registered Nurse with a nurturing spirit, she worked in various hospitals and doctors’ offices in Baton Rouge, while always being available to her family. She finally retired at age 73 to care for her older sisters. A kind and loving spirit, she was a master at organizing chores, haircuts on the back porch, and grocery lists; she never let a week go by without clean sheets for every bed in the house! Pat often stayed up sewing until the wee hours of the morning so each of her six daughters could have new dresses for Christmas or Easter church services. She made a wedding dress with over 2000 hand-sewn seed pearls for the first daughter to marry. And for that same wedding, she designed and made her own dress and four bridesmaids’ dresses! Many bridesmaids’ dresses followed in the next decade as her children married. Education was of major importance, and all her children have at least one university degree. Tuition for up to four college students at a time was one reason she continued to work as a nurse. At the time of her death at age 96, she had eight children, 15 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren with another on the way, and one great-great grandchild. She was a wonderful nurse, parent, wife, neighbor, and MawMaw. She loved babies and flowers; her children, grandchildren, and a special nephew tried to surround her with both as they cared for her during the last six years.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Paul Lawrence Davidson, Jr.; her parents and siblings Delmere Boudreaux, Willia Bagot, Rosemary Firmin, Marian Hirsch, Bishop Warren L. Boudreaux, and Wanita Boudreaux; and her husband’s family, Navarro Rodney Davidson (wife Kathleen and daughter Martha), and his sister and brother-in-law Ruth Louise and Ted Lee McIntyre. Left to celebrate her amazing life are her eight children and their spouses—Patricia Lynn Shelley (Jim), Pamela Wall (Mike), Paul L. Davidson III (Debby), Jan Wall (Louis), Judy Owens (Gary), Father Al Michael Davidson, Sue Hagius (Ken), and Dale Elizabeth Davidson, as well as her grandchildren: Elise, Jim III, Johnny and Mark Shelley; Brandon and Katy Wall; Mark Davidson; Michael and Mary Wall; Keri, Jonathan and Brad Owens; and Lauren, Rosemary and Christine Hagius; and her great-grandchildren and a great-great grandson. The family would like to thank caregivers Tina Latino, Jill Phillips, and Bernice Major who helped care for Pat and supported her children in their goal to keep their parents at home.

Visitation will be at Rabenhorst Funeral Home, 825 Government St., Baton Rouge, from 2 to 4 p.m., Sunday, January 8. Further visitation will occur at the church from 9 am until the 12-noon funeral mass celebrated by her son Father Al Davidson at St. Aloysius Catholic Church, 2025 Stuart Avenue, Baton Rouge, on Monday, January 9. Burial will follow at Roselawn Memorial Park Cemetery, 4045 North Street, Baton Rouge. Pallbearers will be her son, sons-in-law, and grandsons. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to a charity of your choice.