Harriet Hope Fontenot

Mrs. Harriet Hope Fontenot entered God's Court with praise on December 2,from Lafayette General Hospital. Her body was cremated under the direction of Johnson Funeral Home. She was born February 27, 1924, to James E. and Willie Mae Powell Hodges in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She grew up in Sulphur, Oklahoma, attending local schools. She was a graduate of Oklahoma City University. She had done some graduate work at Louisiana State University. She was married to T. Jay Gleason of Pomona, Ca. in 1947, after his passing she married Hesby J. Fontenot in 1971. He preceded her in death in 1983. She had no children of her own but claimed the Rev. Mr. Leon Boggs as a son: and daughters, Christine Krauss and Lena "Tootsie" Holden. Mrs. Fontenot had been a welfare visitor for the State of Louisiana for six years. She had thirty years of service with the federal government, almost twenty nine of which were with the Social Security Administration in Lake Charles. At the time of her retirement she was a claims supervisor. She had lived in Lake Charles seventeen years prior to her marriage to Mr. Fontenot. While there she had been a member of the Mental Health Association and was active in obtaining gifts for patients in the hospital in Pineville and helping deliver them. She was a member 0f Aurora Chapter 54, OES, New Roads, La, from 1950 until its closure. In Sulphur, she was active in the Women's Christian Book Club and was on the Advisory Board of Care/Help of Sulphur. In Lafayette she was an active member of The Salvation Army Women's Auxiliary. She joined the Methodist Church South when she was seven years old and had been a Methodist all her life. She had been a member of Wesley United Methodist Church in Sulphur from 1971 until 2011. She was an active member of United Methodist Women and had held various offices in it. She was a member of the Administrative Board of Wesley Church, had been chairman of the finance committee; the parlor and parsonage committee and various other committees while at Wesley. She was a member of First United Methodist Church, Lafayette in the early fifties and again became a member in 2011. She was a member of the UMW and Anna Dorcus Circle. She is survived by one sister, Gloria Hodges of Lafayette. Louisiana; three nieces, Nanette Van Ostrom of Houston, Texas; Lauri Hall of Tyler Texas: and Jayme Van Ostrom of San Marcus, Texas; two great nephews, James and Peter Hall of Tyler Texas. She is also survived by three sister-in-laws, Gladys Ledeoux of Vinton, La., Delores Duhon of Sulphur, La and Bernice Fontenot of Sulphur. and twelve nieces and nephews who are their children. She loved her "church family" and leaves a host of friends to whom she was ever grateful for the loving care and attention they gave her, especially Iva Lou, Betty, Carolyn, Beth Ann and Barbara. A memorial service for Mrs. Fontenot will be conducted at Wesley United Methodist Church, Sulphur on Saturday December 14 at 2 P.M. In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to First United Methodist Church, Lafayette, or Wesley United Methodist Church, Sulphur or Care/Help of Sulphur.