Elsie Eschete

Picou

Elsie Eschete Picou, 98, a native of Boudreaux Canal and resident of Little Caillou and later Bourg, Louisiana, passed away at home on Nov. 9 ,2026.

She was born Elsie Marguerite Eschete on 1/23/1928 in Bourg. As a girl, she attended Boudreaux Canal Elementary, Lacache Middle and Terrebonne High School.

Toward the end of WWII, after learning shorthand, she moved to New Orleans to work at the New Orleans Port of Embarkation. She married Carbert Picou in 1947, and together they raised 7 children in Little Caillou.

After being widowed at age 49, she made sure that most of her children finished college and helped financially with this endeavor. Known as Mamaw to her grandchildren, she loved welcoming each new one into the family. She loved gardening and had a gifted green thumb.

She was a long time member of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Chauvin, where she sang in the St. Joseph Adult Choir and helped make shrimp boulettes, cornhusk dolls and quilts for the annual Lagniappe on the Bayou Fair. After moving to Bourg, she became a member of St. Anne Catholic Church. She lived in a home she helped to design and her younger brother Vernon built. A woman of order and routine, every day she enjoyed her favorite soap opera, reading the paper, the evening news, and a brisk hour-long walk through the neighborhood, a walk she shared for almost three decades with her neighbors Betty Naquin and Betty Lyons, finishing before the school buses came by and rarely missing a day.

She cared for her parents as they aged, and later for her husband and her daughter during their battles with cancer. She valued her independence and lived on her own until her final years. Her common sense, wit, and love of reading, Sudoku, and puzzles stayed with her to the end, as did an uncanny ability to sing along to old songs after hearing just the first few notes. She delighted in a beautiful salad, good hamburger, fresh fruit, seafood and occasional dessert savoring every bite.

She is survived by her six children: Dr. Keith Picou and wife Josie of McAllen, TX; Bryce Picou and wife Vickie of Bourg; Jana Kendrick and husband Michael of Benton; Drs. Bryan and Cissy Picou of Natchitoches; Drs. Marcia and Dan Marsh of Baton Rouge; and Chad Picou and wife Maria of Luling.

She is also survived by 15 grandchildren: Kyle and Kevin Picou; Michelle Musso and Ryan Picou; Baron Kendrick, Erika Phillips, and Lori Slagle; Megan Bishop, Sara McCann, Catie Oryl and Dr. Bryan Picou Jr.; Rachel Marsh and Dr. Audrey Marsh; and Erin Dufrene and Claire Joliboix.

She is also survived by her 33 great grandchildren: Madison, Audrey, Charlotte, and Kasey Picou; Ian and Ivy Musso; Alexis, Jacob, Leah, Nick and Andrew Picou; Nolan and Camille Kendrick; Gabe, Jude and Rowan Phillips; Carson, Declan, Stetson and Wylan Slagle; Emmy Bishop; Ella, Liam and Andrew McCann; Mack, Mollie, Fiona, and Claire Oryl; Amelia, Oliver and Eleanor Picou; Jacob Dufrene; and Bennett Joliboix.

Also survived by 2 great grandchildren; Cian Musso and Rayla Frickey; she is also survived by her sister Constance Falgout and husband Raymond of Bourg and sister-in-law Betty Eschete of Gibson; and numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death; by her husband, Carbert Picou; her daughter, Roxanne Picou; her parents, Neville and Ida Pitre Eschete; her brothers, Raymond Eschete and wife Thelma, and Vernon Eschete and wife Therese'.

The family would like to thank Olinda Gros, Pat Sorenson, and especially Melisa Besson for their loving care and Christian compassion, which allowed Elsie to remain in her home through the difficult stretches of her illness.

Visitation will be held at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Chauvin on Nov. 17 ,2026 from 9 am until 11:30 am, when a Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated. Burial will follow in St. Joseph Cemetery.