Rev. Sidney Fontenot

In 1929, in Allen Parish, in a little community called Soileau, too small to rate a mention on the map, Sidney Fontenot was born to F.E. and Leona Fontenot.
"Even as a little boy, he was always the good one," said one of his first cousins. "He used to go up to his teachers at the end of the year and tell them, 'If I've done anything bad, I'm very sorry'."
He fell in love with God as a child. Nobody was much surprised that he wanted to be a preacher.
He had to find his spiritual way from where he started to where he ended. In his maturity he simplified Christianity, "The Christian life is an easy life." He started every day with a simple prayer, a surrender of the gift back to the Giver, kept the conversation up all through the day, and at day end, like he did as a little boy, he prayed before bed, "If there's anything I did that displeased You I am sorry."
He reached wider than any of us know. He married and buried, prayed for and prayed with, counseled, hugged and smiled, said the right thing in the right way at the right time to so many.
He was never lukewarm. Piling the days up, over eight decades, he let the Holy Spirit transform him into a walking, talking Fruit of the Spirit. He is the Christian-ish Christian most of us will ever know.
The Rev. Sidney Fontenot passed away at 6:30 p.m.on Friday Jan. 9, 2015 at home, in a room thick with love, with family and friends united around his bed. He was 85. His wife and two stillborn children preceded him in death.
He and his wife Delores raised three children, R. Pierre Fontenot, Mark Fontenot and his wife Lois, and Debbie McCormick and her husband Mark.
He's the spiritual patriarch affectionately known as "Poppy" to eight grandchildren: Dwight, Quintin, Kadie, Devan, Christopher, Chase, Bryce and Pierce; and six great-grandchildren, Vincent, Aiden, Imrye, Arley, Roman and Ritchie.
He now knows what it's like to hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
His funeral will be at 10 a.m., Tuesday, January 13, in Maplewood First Baptist Church. Dr. Ronnie Burke will officiate. Burial will be in Green Oaks Cemetery between Kinder and Oberlin at 2:30 p.m.
Visitation will be held in the church on Monday from 4 p.m.-8 p.m. and on Tuesday from 9 a.m. until the time of service in the church. In lieu of flowers, the family offers the option of sending support for Partners in Missions, 1072 Laura Circle, Sulphur, LA 70663, a non-profit ministry the couple founded in the 1970s.
Words of comfort may be shared with the family at www.hixsonfuneralhomes.com.