Adeline Roemer

Adeline McDade Roemer



Juliet Adeline McDade Roemer passed away peacefully in her sleep at her beloved home, Scopena Plantation, in Bossier Parish, on Friday afternoon, January 29, 2016. She had celebrated her 92nd birthday on Christmas Day, 2015. We will have a celebration of her life at Rose-Neath Funeral Home, 1815 Marshall Street, Shreveport, LA on Thursday, February 4, 2016, at 2:00 p.m. Officiating will be Reverend David Melville, Reverend Michael Barrett, and Reverend Carl Rhoads, Associate Pastor of her church, First United Methodist Church of Shreveport. Visitation will be from noon until service time. Interment will follow at Forest Park Cemetery, St. Vincent Ave., Shreveport, LA. As she would want, all are welcome to share in the celebration.

Honoring "Gramma" as pallbearers will be her grandchildren. Serving as honorary pallbearers will be Joe Averett, David Elston, Laurance Guidry, Charlie Hutchins and Lee Hutchins.

Adeline was born at McDade, Louisiana, on December 25, 1923. She was the youngest child of Ross Elias and Ethel Earle Elston McDade. She is preceded in death by her beloved husband and best friend for over 80 years Charles Elson (Budgie) Roemer, II; her parents; her siblings and their spouses: Ross Elias McDade, Jr. and wife Maybelle; Ethel McDade Hutchins and husband John L; and Emily McDade Averett and husband Nalda; her sister-in-law Margaret Roemer Read; her in-laws Maggie and Vernon Mayer and Charles "Pete" Roemer and wife Mae; and her son-in-law Randal Harlan Lefler.

Adeline was Budgie's partner in every sense of the word since the time they were childhood sweethearts at Elm Grove School in Bossier Parish. She played hard, worked hard, and prayed hard with and for him. She supported him, and he, her, in good times and in bad. When Budgie was in a near-fatal airplane accident in the early 1950s, Adeline ran their large plantation while caring for her five young children. She continued to work with the farming operations, running the cotton gin and agri-business accounts for most of her adult life. She was an active promoter of civic and social causes, concerned enough to run for Congress herself in 1988. A female Democrat at a time when women were not fully embraced in political circles, she lost the race, but she had made her points of concern known, and made a difference. Her entire life made a difference.

In her very public life and in her very private life, Adeline showed each of her children how to prioritize strong family values, how to seek and attain fine educations, how to be contributing citizens within their communities, and how to accept life's circumstances, no matter the consequence, with utmost dignity and grace. Every day she made the world the best place possible for her family.

There is no doubt that her most important work was that of being the dynamic matriarch of her vibrant, close-knit, political and intellectual family. She exposed her family to world events and to people shaping those world events. She taught them to strive to be the best in their chosen field, and to accept nothing less.

Living out her favorite quote from Robert Frost's "The Death of the Hired Man," "Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in," "Miss Adeline" molded the life of Scopena through her children, their friends, and through her selfless assistance to her staff and their families. She made certain that no one felt like a stranger at Scopena. Everyone was welcome at the table for lunch during the week or for Sunday dinner. Most weekends in the fall, when the children were young and still home, Adeline and Budgie would pile everyone into the car after lunch on Saturday and drive to LSU ballgames, returning home in the middle of the night, but they would be in the 8:30 church service at First United Methodist Church, Shreveport, the next morning.

Whether it was watching five different tennis matches in a day or listening to music recitations, debates, and speeches; driving children to lessons in Shreveport-Bossier or college in Boston; being partner and aide to her husband's business, political, and social aspirations, or being the Number One supporter in her son's congressional and gubernatorial campaigns, she met life with enthusiasm, with dignity, with humility and with much gratitude.

Adeline leaves behind her five children, each believing they were "her favorite." Sharing love and loss are their spouses, her 17 grandchildren and spouses, 37 great-grandchildren, and 2 great-great-grandchildren. Her children are former Governor Charles Elson "Buddy" Roemer, III and wife Scarlett, Margaret Roemer Lefler, Danny Roemer and wife Judy, Melinda Roemer Barrett and husband Michael, and Melanie Roemer Melville and husband David.

Her grandchildren are Caroline Roemer and husband John Shirley, Chas Roemer and wife Tena, Dakota Roemer and wife Heather, Drew Lefler, Kelley Roemer Snead, Julie Roemer Norton and husband Paul, Franklin Roemer and wife Christy, Havard Lyons and wife Nellie, Peter Lyons and partner Michael Maloney, Alden Lyons Murphy, Jude Melville and wife Amy, Daniel Melville and wife Sonya, Grace Melville Berios and husband John, and Taunton Melville and wife Christy, and grandchildren-by-marriage Mike Barrett and wife Laura, Jim Barrett and wife Debbie, and Misty Barrett Tomer and husband John. They were loved by her, and they each loved her in return.

A brother-in-law, Henry Read of New Orleans, and a host of nieces and nephews, and special family Charlton Lyons, III, Cookie Demler Roemer, Patti Marchiafava join in celebrating this remarkable life.

Special appreciation goes out to her extended family members, including dear friend Donna Frantom; former daughter-in-law Cookie Roemer, who sat at her bedside at the hospital for hours in the final months of her life; Laurance Guidry, longtime friend; Josie Milton and T. C. Milton, last surviving members of her home staff.

The family is most grateful to her caregivers Kay Wright, Dorothy Johnson, DeNova Aucoin, Lula Brown, Roger Davis, and to St. Joseph Hospice Care, Anointed Hands of Care, Dr. Randy del Mundo and Dr. Scott Wiggins. Each served her well and fully in the last months of her life.

Adeline took pride in being one of many first cousins in the Elston/McDade households. She treasured her outings with her remaining cousins, especially her closeness to Gretchen Elston Benner, Julia Elston McCormick, and David Elston.

To quote her granddaughter Grace Adeline, "She was my most favorite woman. Each day of my life, I ask myself, 'How would Gramma handle this day, this situation, this circumstance. We will always be grateful for all the lessons she taught us just from observing her example of supportive loving spouse, hostess extraordinaire, gracious business woman, politician, dear friend, sister, cousin, mom and, especially, grandmother, great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother. All of us are so lucky to have had her as 'ours.'"

The family suggests memorials may be made to Alzheimer's Association, P.O. Box 96011, Washington, DC 20090 or to the charity of donor's choice.

Adeline lived to see the success of each of her children because of the foundations she established at Scopena Plantation in young lives. She is rewarded today in heaven alongside her husband again.

Our angel is in flight, watching from above - we are protected and well pleased.