Grace Knowles Duplechain

Grace Knowles Murchison Duplechain, 89, died December 25, 2023 in Lake Charles. She went by her middle initial, “K.”
K. was born in Alexandria, the youngest child of Henry Dillon Murchison and Grace Evelyn Knowles Murchison. Her family moved to Ruston, where K. graduated from Louisiana Tech University and was a member of Phi Mu. It was in Ruston that she met and married Payton R. Covington. K. followed Payton to law school at LSU, then to Lake Charles, where he practiced law and they raised their three daughters, for many years in Oak Park.

K. was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was a quiet, steady matriarch. She was proud to be a Murchison. K. knew china patterns, she watched football, she drank bottled Starbucks Frappuccinos. She didn’t pump gas. She liked Neil Diamond and Terry Bradshaw. She loved her pets. K. was a wonderful cook, an excellent baker, and a gracious and generous hostess. She was a beloved mother, MeMaw, aunt, friend, neighbor, and confidant.

K. was predeceased by her parents, daughter Grace Covington Guinn, husband Charles “Duke” Duplechain, brothers, Henry Dillon Murchison, Jr. and Van Stanton Murchison, and sisters Marjorie Murchison Stephan and Louise Murchison Sneed.

She is survived by daughters Louise Covington Marks (Sonny), Celeste Covington Mansco (Delmer), and son-in-law Homer “Buddy” Guinn; granddaughters, Ashley Ortego Naquin (Michael), Laura Ortego Campbell (Jared); grandson, Richard Guinn; step-grandsons, Matt Mansco (Mayzie) and Ken Mansco; great grandsons, Rhett and Judson Campbell; and step-great grandchildren, Kanon, Kollin and Hazel Mansco.

Visitation will be from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday, January 20 in Hardtner Hall at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, 715 Kirkman Street, Lake Charles. The funeral will follow at 2 p.m. in the church, then burial at Consolata Cemetery, 2300 Country Club Road. The Rev. Dr. Mitzi George will officiate.

The family thanks the staff at Guardian House and Harbor Hospice for their loving care.