Velma Bourque Berard

St. Martinville - A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 2 p.m., on Wednesday, December 23, 2009, at St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church in St. Martinville, for Velma Bourque Berard, 84, who passed away on Tuesday, December 22, 2009 at Lafayette General Medical Center. Interment will follow at St. Michael Cemetery, in St. Martinville. Msgr. Jeff DeBlanc will officiate at the Funeral Mass. Mrs. Berard retired in 1984 with the State of Louisiana, Department of Welfare. She was a parishioner of St. Martin de Tours Catholic Church, where she was a member of the Choir and was an adorer in the Chapel of Perpetual Adoration. She was a volunteer at the Petit Paris Museum in St. Martinville for a number of years. In her spare time, she enjoyed reading and bowling. Survivors include two sons, Daniel Berard and his wife, Christine, of St. Martinville, and Steven Berard and his wife, Donna, of Loreauville; four daughters, Carolyn Berard, of New Iberia, Katherine Berard Deshotels and her husband, Jim, of New Iberia, Claire Berard, of St. Martinville, and Betty Berard Broussard and her husband, Robert, of Coteau Holmes; one brother, Phillip Bourque and his wife, Sis, of Morgan City; one sister, Oline Gary, of St. Martinville; 10 grandchildren; and 7 great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Felix "Peck" Berard; her parents, Superville and Josephine Barras Bourque; one brother, Wade Bourque; and three sisters, Lucille Bourque Berard, Henrietta Bourque Bienvenu, and Theresa Bourque Faught. The family requests that visiting hours be observed from 4 p.m. until 10 p.m. on Tuesday and continue at 8 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday. A rosary will be recited at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. Pellerin Funeral Home of St. Martinville in charge of arrangements.