Calcasieu Parish, LA Obituary for Willie Marchand
Submitted By:  Monica Marchand
Sep 2004


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LC civic leader [Willie] Marchand dies
by Sonny Marks (American Press Staff Writer)

        Willie Marchand died Friday night, leaving Lake Charles with one less civic 
leader – the founder of the city’s first YMCA for African Americans.

        Marchand, 72, died in a  local hospital. Funeral services for the lifelong Lake 
Charles resident are set for 11 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 23, from Sacred Heart 
Catholic Church.

        The Rev. Raymond Jones will officiate. Graveside services will follow in 
Sacred Heart Cemetery. Visitation is from 6-9 p.m. today at Combre Funeral Home.

        Marchand returned home after Navy service in World War II, and became the 
city’s first black mail carrier in 1948. He served for 32 years before retiring, along 
the way founding the local chapter of the National Association of Letter Carriers.

        He was director of the Foreman-Reynaud YMCA, sat on the Lake Charles 
Biracial Committee and was the labor relations chairman of the NAACP. He served 
on the board of Burton Coliseum and the Gulf Assistance Program.

        In the military, Marchand was a member of the U.S. Navy Band. He played 
tenor and alto saxophone with members of Duke Ellington’s band, said McNeese 
music professor Terry Mahady.

        Marchand’s musical career led him to join the Lake Charles Jazz Band and 
found his own combo. A vocalist, composer, arranger and saxophonist, he was a 
member of the American Federation of Musicians, Houston Local.

        Basile Miller, a lifelong friend, said Marchand was offered jobs with big bands 
but turned them down because the touring would take him away from his family. 
Miller remembered waiting tables at the Majestic Hotel while Marchand sand 
“Prisoner of Love” onstage. 

        “He was a good role model for the family,” Miller said. “Above all, Lord, he was
 a musician.”

        Marchand is survived by his wife, May Bell (LeBlanc) Marchand; four sons, 
Michael, Eric, Gregory and Gerard Marchand; four daughters, Monica Brown, all of 
Houston, Sandra Solomon of Willingboro, N.J., Judy Marchand of Chester, Va., and 
Andrea Hawkins of Lake Charles; one brother, Thomas Marchand of San 
Francisco; 16 grandchildren and one great grandchild.