Betty Barousse Briggs
Betty Barousse Briggs, 92 and a lifelong resident of Jennings, passed away peacefully Thursday evening, Dec. 5, 2019, in Southwest Louisiana Veterans Home after battling advanced dementia for several years. She was a resident of the home for nearly five years and her family is extremely grateful to the attentive and loving care provided by its entire staff and that of the private sitters in the last year of her life.
Visitation will be held at Miguez Funeral Home from 10 a.m. until 1:30 p.m., with a rosary at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019, with a Mass of Christian Burial at Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Church at 2 p.m. Fr. Charles McMillin will officiate the services.
Entombment will be in Cavalry Cemetery in Jennings.
Born Oct. 14, 1927, to George and Gladys Gardiner Barousse, Betty graduated from Jennings High School and began nurse training at Touro Infirmary until WWII ended, when she married her childhood sweetheart, Norman Briggs, in 1947. They were married for 71 years and raised six children. Norman died in 2018.
In addition to being an exceptional homemaker, seamstress, square dancer, outstanding cook and baker, a Cub Scout den mother and a Boy Scout pack mother, Betty also worked part-time for a few years at Jennings Daily News as a copy editor. As her children all left the nest and in her late 40’s, Betty resumed her nursing education by commuting to LSU-Eunice, graduating with a 4.0 GPA at age 49 as a registered nurse. She then worked at the Jennings hospital and both Jennings nursing homes before retiring as director of nursing at Jeff Davis Living Center.
Betty and Norman drove through their retirement years in a series of fixer-upper motorhomes, crisscrossing the U.S. and Canada, visiting their grandchildren in far away cities and making new friends at every thrift shop and flea market along the highways. They also navigated trips to Europe and Hawaii despite their advanced ages. But their home in Jennings was always the center for huge family gatherings for holidays and all birthdays, where MawMaw was at her happiest surrounded by grandkids and greatgrandkids, and with a slice of cake on her plate. Betty was a bargain shopper, a devout Catholic, loved all babies, a good story teller, a slow eater, was quick with her serene smile and numerous facial expressions, loved her blue recliner and was a great teacher and trainer to her nursing employees.
Betty is survived by her six children, daughter, Cherie Earles and husband Dana of New Braunfels, Texas, son Kirk and wife Karen of Lafayette, son Tim and wife Janice of Arnaudville, son Monte and wife Sue of Crowley, son Kevin and wife Susan of Lafayette and daughter Kathy Briggs of Jennings; 14 grandchildren scattered in Louisiana, Texas, California, Oregon, Colorado, Tennessee, Alabama and Italy; 18 great-grandchildren and step-great-grandchildren; and one great great-grandson.
She was predeceased by one great-grandson.
Betty is also survived by one brother, Fr. Raphael Barousse, a Benedictine monk and priest at St. Joseph Abbey in Covington. The Abbey monks have handcrafted Betty’s custom cypress casket. Betty’s only other sibling, Jimmy Barousse, husband of Arlene Kennedy of Rayne, died in 1973.
Words of comfort may be expressed to the family at www.miguezfuneralhome.com.