ST. MARY PARISH, LA. 

Obituary for: PAUL, MARVA MAE (RICARDO) 

Submitted by: Louis Lavedan. 

Source: Jones Funeral Home, Inc., Morgan City and Franklin, La.

Died: Sunday June 4, 2017

======================================================================= 
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgenweb.org/volunteers/copyright.shtml
======================================================================= 

PAUL, MARVA MAE (RICARDO) 
September 12, 1938 ~ June 4, 2017 (age 78)

==========
A photo is available for this file. Please go to
http://usgwarchives.net/la/stmary/obits/dateobits/2017/sm1706.htm 
and click on the name of interest.
==========

Marva Mae Ricardo Paul, 78, a resident and native of Franklin, LA, passed on 
Sunday June 4, 2017 at 10:30 AM at the Iberia Medical Center Extended Care 
Hospital in New Iberia, LA.

Visitation will resume on Saturday June 10, 2017 from 8:00 AM until a rosary 
being recited at 9:45 AM at the St Jules Catholic Church in Franklin, LA. 
Tributes will follow the recitation of the rosary. A Mass of Christian Burial 
will be celebrated at 11:00 AM with Father Peter Emusa serving as the 
Celebrant. 

Entombment will follow mass services in the Mausoleum Section of the Perpetual 
Park Cemetery in Franklin, LA.

Marva leaves to continue to celebrate her life, her husband, Edward Paul of 
Franklin, LA; one sister—Magnolia “Nola” Rae and Nola’s husband, Kendall Baker 
of New Orleans, LA; three children—her daughter Karla and Karla’s husband, 
Clarence Vappie of Baldwin, LA; her son Raphael and his wife Marchez of 
Lafayette, LA; her daughter Marla Chirdon of New Orleans, LA; four 
grandchildren—Clarence Roscoe Vappie (“Petie”), Kaleb Paul, Austin Paul, 
Suhayla Chirdon, and a host of extended family and many friends. She will live 
forever in the hearts and minds of her family who loved her dearly. 

Marva was preceded in death by her parents, Washington Whitney Ricardo and 
Letitia Moton Ricardo. 
 

“Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting; the woman who fears the Lord is to be 
praised.”
—Proverbs 31:30

Marva Mae Ricardo was born September 12, 1938 to her proud parents Washington 
Whitney Ricardo and Letitia Moton Ricardo in Franklin, Louisiana. She has one 
sibling, Magnolia Rae Ricardo, and they grew up very close to each other. As a 
youth, Marva was very agile and performed in many school activities. She ran 
track, played basketball, sang in the school choir, and performed in plays 
under the direction of Mrs. Arizona Wells. In her formative years, her parents 
became close to an evangelist from Chicago who was affiliated with Sager Brown 
School, Mrs. Evelyn R. Hooks. Mrs. Hooks fell in love with Marva. With no 
children of her own, she would travel to Louisiana to pick up Marva, and they 
traveled all over the United States. Marva looked forward to her summer and her 
great adventures. 

After graduating from Willow Street High School, Marva attended Southern 
University. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary 
Education. While at Southern she ran track and was affiliated with the first 
all-girls drill team which marched at many historically Black colleges. Marva 
was always conscious of and concerned about Black civil rights. She marched for 
equal rights at Southern on numerous occasions. She marched with the likes of 
H. (Rap) Brown. Female students could not leave the campus during the day, and 
Marva took quite a chance in participating in those off-campus civil rights 
activities.

After graduation, she met and married her husband of 55 years, Edward Paul. Of 
that union three children were born: Karla Patrice, Raphael Sean, and Marla 
Letitia.

Marva began her teaching career at Mary Hines Elementary School and taught 
there for over 20 years. She worked at the St. Mary Parish Alternative School 
and ended her career at St. John Elementary School. She loved her students, and 
they loved her. She always found extra money for school supplies, socks, 
underclothes, and more for her less fortunate students. Many of them never 
forgot Marva’s generosity. 

Marva was a loving daughter, a faithful wife, and a dedicated mother and 
grandmother. Those who knew her loved her and will always remember her quiet 
demeanor and her loyalty to her family and friends. Marva was a lifelong 
Christian. Her grandfather, Rev. Joseph Walter Ricardo, was a Methodist 
minister, and Marva was christened in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. 
She was a dutiful Methodist. Later in life, she converted to Catholicism and 
reared her children in that faith as members of St. Jules Catholic Church

===================