Opal Ray Marchand

Opal was born on January 12, 1924 in Duplesses, LA. to Aklin and Anna Marchand. The family, including her brother Magnus, moved to their first home in New Orleans on St. Mary St. when she was a toddler. Around 1950 the family moved to the Garden District, where she remained in the same house for the rest of her life. After high school she went to work at the Pontchartrain Hotel as a switchboard operator and then moved up to bookkeeping for the owner. She then went to work at Freeport McMoran as a payroll accountant for the remainder of her career. Outside of work Opal loved music and dancing and was a jitterbug champion. She was a fastidious homemaker. Her passion was traveling and was able to travel to all US states with the exception of Hawaii. Opal enjoyed cruising to Canada, Mexico and the Mississippi River. She was a wonderful seamstress and loved playing card games. Opal also had a passion for and was always crocheting something. She donated countless crochet blankets to East Jefferson General Hospital for newborn babies, while working for their volunteer services for many years. She was a Christian and carried her faith and the love of God and Jesus until the day she passed away.

She is survived by her 1st cousin Norma Battle who is 103 years old; Melissa “Missy” Marchand Miller (James), Ryan Miller, Alex Miller (Haley); Iris L Grevemberg (Ken), Sean Baudier; Carol King, Tim McClintock, Cindy Quist (Peter), Jim McClintock, Robert Blazich (Tabitha), John Blazich (Linsay); Lyn Napier (Maurice); as well as many other generational family members. She was preceded in death by her parents Aklin and Anna Marchand, her brother Magnus Joseph Marchand and sister Ira Day King.

A funeral will be held on Saturday March 14th at Ourso Funeral Home, 13533 Airline Highway Gonzales, LA 70737 (225) 647-8608

A public gathering will start at 10:00 am, and the service will follow at 11:00 am.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be given to your favorite church or charity.