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SHONGALOO - A memorial service will be held at Mt. Paran Baptist Church on Saturday, Jan. 28, at 2 p.m. for Dudley R. Davis, 86, who passed away on Monday, Jan. 16, 2017, following a lengthy illness.
Brother Ed Bryan will officiate the service.
He is survived by his wife, Faye Hardaway Davis; two daughters, Angela Davis Haenel and husband Keith of Bedford, New Hampshire, and Teri Davis Hoffpauir and husband Hubert of Rayne; four grandchildren, Jerod Hoffpauir and wife Gayla of Egan, Alicia H. LaCombe and husband Wade of Roberts Cove, Jian Haenel and Mia Haenel of Bedford, New Hampshire; four great-grandchildren, Macy Hoffpauir, Lily Hoffpauir, Colin LaCombe and Brett LaCombe.
He also leaves behind two sisters, Bobbie Lou D. Pickett of Birmingham, Alabama, and Margie D. Crawford and husband Larry of Clayton; one brother George Davis of Shongaloo; sister-in-law Mary Alice Davis of Plain Dealing; one brother-in-law Ed Bernatowicz of Shreveport; a dear cousin, Wayne Davis of Plain Dealing, who was like a brother to him; and dearest friends, William and Mary Ann Strange of Shongaloo, along with numerous beloved cousins, nieces, nephews and friends.
Born and raised in Shongaloo, Dudley and his family also lived in Church Point and Rayne while he was employed with Sun Oil Company. Upon retirement, he and Faye lived in Opelousas before they returned to his home place of Shongaloo.
An avid outdoorsman, he could often be found in the woods coon or deer hunting or on the lake fishing for crappie or catfish. He loved nothing more than to fry up his catch for family and friends.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Robert and Lottie Murrell Davis; in-laws W.H. and Lucy Lindsay Hardaway; brother Harold Davis; sister Lois Davis Bernatowicz; brother in-law Hervis Jabo Haynes; sister-in-law Mary Ellen Davis; and brother-in-law G.B. Pickett.
The family would like to express its sincerest gratitude to his caregiver Gina Harrison, nephew Robert Haynes, friend Charles Wells, Regional Hospice of NWLA in Minden, Nurse Lee and Nurse Debbie for the wonderful love care and support they have given.
In lieu of flowers the family requests a donation in Dudley’s name be made to Regional Hospice Care Group of NWLA, 1634 Hwy. 531, Minden, LA 71055.

LAFAYETTE - “The Mervine Kahn Legacy” will be among the feature films shown during this weekend’s Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival.
The Rayne Historical District Association and Wild Productions have announced that the 80-minute documentary will be screened at noon Saturday, Jan. 28, at Cités des Arts.
“We’re very excited with this opportunity to share our film,” Bart Wild of Wild Productions said during a recent breakfast meeting with Martha Royer of the Rayne Historical District Associatoin.
Royer agreed. “This is really big for Rayne,” she said. “This is something that can grow and can help to bring visitors to our city.”
“Legacy,” in its current form, represents the merging of two documentaries.
The first tells the story of how Mervine Kahn, a French-speaking German Jew, settled in Rayne in 1884 and established his namesake general store which grew into a local institution and landmark.
“The Mervine Kahn Legacy” began as an oral history project with interviews of former Mervine Kahn Company employees with the help of students from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Over 30 hours of interviews were collected, as well as photos and artifacts from the store.
“Volume I was all about the employees and why Mervine Kahn came to Rayne,” said Wild. “We interviewed dozens of people for the film — the oldest was 94 and the youngest was Kathy Lanthier, the person who locked the door on the final day of operation — and we never heard one bad word about that man.”
The second film focused on the connection between the Mervine Kahn Company and the proliferation of Cajun and Creole music in the early part of the twentieth century.
“Mervine Kahn brought the first accordions to the area through his connections in Germany and New York,” Wild explained. “Rayne is really the hub of the development of Cajun-French music.”
The film features interviews and music by Grammy Award winners Jo-El Sonnier and Wayne Toups as well as Steve Riley and a host of other musicians.
Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival was founded in 2006 by filmmaker Pat Mire after Hurricane Katrina caused the cancellation of the New Orleans Film Festival in the fall of 2005. It now has the distinction of being the second-longest running film festival in Louisiana.
Since 2006, Cinema on the Bayou Film Festival has presented, on an annual basis, a wide variety of documentary and narrative fiction films and filmmakers from around the United States and beyond.
The film festival opened Wednesday, Jan. 25, with the U.S. premier of “Zachary Richard, Cajun Heart” at the Acadiana Center for the Arts. The festival continues through Feb. 1.
The Festival will screen 163 official selections from COTB’s open call for submissions from independent filmmakers around the world along with panels discussions, workshops, music and parties.
Over 200 directors, producers, cinematographers, distributors, actors, grant sources and other industry professionals are expected to attend the festival from across the United States and Canada, as well as from Japan, Australia, India, the U.K. and France.
Film screenings will take place at Acadiana Center for the Arts, Cité des Arts, the Vermilionville Performance Center, and the Lafayette Public Library South Regional Branch.
The 2017 festival lineup was chosen from a total pool of more than 1,200 submissions, and includes 106 narrative films, of which 22 are features and 84 are shorts; 40 documentary films, of which 23 are features and 17 are shorts, and 17 animated short films.
The majority of the films are World, U.S. or Louisiana Premieres.
Included within the official selections are more than 32 French-language films and 23 films from Japan, as well as films from Cuba, Spain, the U.K., India, Australia, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Austria, China, Mauritius, Cyprus, the United Republic of Tanzania, Canada, France and across the United States.
For a schedule of film screenings, visit cinemaonthebayou.com.
You can also follow the Mervine Kahn Legacy and the Rayne Historical District Association on Facebook.

The Wolves and Lady Wolves traveled to Crowley Friday night at Crowley High, both picking up district wins.
The Wolves notched their first district win of their season with a 52-47 win over the Gents, despite a delay late in the fourth quarter due to an altercation among the players. The final three minutes were played with a cleared gym, free of spectators, following the ejection of two Crowley and three Rayne players.
The win places Rayne at 1-2 in district play, while the loss kept the Gents down at 0-3 in league play.
In earlier action, the Lady Wolves claimed a rather easy 61-32 win over Crowley, improving their slate to 15-12 overall and 4-1 in district play. Crowley fell to 6-15 overall and 0-4 in league play.
Rayne was led on the night by Keysuana Moore with 17 points, followed by Tajane Butler and Tiesha Young each at an even 10. Amari Collins chipped in eight points.
In earlier action, both squads hosted Washington-Marion, seeing the Wolves fall short at 63-79 and the Lady Wolves pulling out a 58-45 win.
Both squads were scheduled to host LaGrange this week, in addition to a road trip to Leesville on Friday as both teams will try to improve their district records.

The Rayne High School wrestling team attended the 2017 Ken Cole Invitational held Jan. 20-21 at Comeaux High School in Lafayette, one of the most prestigious tournaments held in the state during the wrestling season.
Top-seed Cooper Simon represented Rayne High in the 113-pound weight class. During the two-day tournament, Simon claimed a 13-4 win over Riley Horvath of Brother Martin High School, believed to be the first and only Rayne wrestler to claim a Ken Cole championship in a weight class.
Tyler Carriere, a Rayne wrestler also ranked coming into the tournament in the 195-pound weight class, completed the weekend with a third place finish, falling just short in the semi-finals.
Rayne’s third wrestler entering the weekend with a high ranking, Morgan Manuel claimed a fourth place finish in the 126-pound weight class.
Rayne HIgh varsity wrestlers entered into the tournmant were: 106 - Anthony Guillory, 113 - Cooper Simon, 120 - Sean Thevenet, 126 - Morgan Manuel, 132 - Trevor Young, 138 - Jordan McCrory, 145 - Darian Thomas, 152 - Dylan Istre, 160 - Charles Solomon, 170 - Miles Doucet, 182 - Hunner Seaux, 195 - Tyler Carriere, 220 - Blaze Miller, 285 - Torin Beniot.
Rayne High finished in the 13th position of the 51 teams entered in the tournament.
The Wolves were scheduled to participate in a tri-meet at Teurlings High School including Rayne, Live Oak and the hosting Rebels. The weekend will see Rayne participating in the Lafayette Metro Tournament at Northside High School.