Gerald Wayne Philen, Sr.

A service to honor the life of Mr. Gerald Wayne Philen, Sr. will be held at 2 pm on Wednesday, August 18, 2021, in the chapel of Blanchard-St. Denis Funeral Home with Bro. David Matlock officiating. Burial will follow at St. Maurice Cemetery with Rev. James Philen officiating. The family will receive friends from 11 am until service time on August the 18th at Blanchard-St. Denis Funeral Home. Those honored to serve as pallbearers include Bo Hardy, Charlie Ashby, Bill Hough, Brandon Thompson, David Patterson, and Kevin Patterson. Honorary pallbearers will be Winfred Lonadier and Ricky Tuttle. Gerald, 78 years of age and a resident of Natchitoches Parish in the Bayou Bourbeaux Community, passed away on August 15, 2021. He was born on April 27, 1943 to Pressley Allen Philen and Annie Lucille Lonadier Philen in Natchitoches, LA. Gerald was a very hard worker and by trade was a paint contractor for many years. He dearly loved his family and was a very good provider. Outside of the love for his family, his next greatest passion was farming and reaping the benefits of his labor with an abundant crop of vegetables that would be sold or given to family and friends. Truly some of his happiest times were spent on a tractor and working the land that God blessed him with. Before his health began to decline, he enjoyed fellowship with his church family at Christian Harmony Baptist Church of which he was a long-time member. He will be dearly missed but always remembered as a loving husband, father, brother, grandfather and great grandfather. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Effie Dean Philen; sons, Gerald Wayne Philen, Jr. and Rev. James Felton Philen and his wife Tracey; daughters, Rose Ann Tuttle and Donna Marguerite Philen; a sister, Marguerite Hardy; as well as 5 grandchildren, 3 great grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, Pressley and Annie Philen, brothers, James Philen and Felton Philen; son-in-law, Timothy Tuttle; a sister-in-law, Melba Philen and a brother-in-law, Clarence J. Hardy.