The Life of Nedra Andrus
Nedra Reed Andrus
Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, November 16, 2011, at 11:00 AM in Asbury United Methodist Church, for Nedra Reed Andrus, age 76, who died at her home, surrounded by her loving family following a lengthy and courageous battle against chronic pulmonary disease.
She was born on December 16, 1934 in Merryville, Beauregard Parish, LA, the second daughter of Louise Guin Reed and Odis Archie Reed, granddaughter of John A. Reed and Ida C. Weldon Reed and Allen J. Guin and Ida A. Hall Guin, all of Beauregard Parish, LA. Nedra lived in Merryville, Elizabeth, then Oakdale, LA before moving with her family to Clarksdale, MS in 1939.
While living in Clarksdale, Nedra attended Clarksdale Grammar School and developed a love for music and singing, often singing with her mother and sister. She also won the Mississippi State Music Award for singing duet with her sister and performed in Memphis, TN on Uncle Johnny's Radio Show. At the age of seven, she was so small she had to stand on a crate to reach the microphone. She moved with her family to Lafayette in 1943 where she attended Lafayette Central Grammar School and Myrtle Place Elementary and followed her passion for music as a student of voice, piano and dance through her high school years. She graduated from Gerami School of Dance, taught dancing lessons for two years and sang in a trio with her mother and sister, called by Lafayette entertainers, the "Reed Sisters". It was this pursuit that brought her together with her future husband, the love of her life, and others who became lifelong friends. She graduated from Lafayette High School in May 1953, then enrolled in Loyola University in New Orleans as a voice major. While at Loyola, she was a member of the Sigma Alpha Iota, International Music Fraternity. On July 22, 1954, she married Dwight Wilbur Andrus, Jr. and moved back to Lafayette. She worked as a secretary for her father-in-law before becoming a mother to her three sons.
She had a love of the outdoors, which was expressed through her passion for gardening and her many weekends spent hunting and fishing offshore with her husband, sons and friends at the family camp in Pecan Island, LA. She also enjoyed spending time with her family and friends at their lodge in Peoria, MS, and could often be found in a deer blind, riding a four wheeler, fishing, shooting skeet, or just relaxing with her husband outdoors. Nedra, having her mother's kind heart, loved animals and had many favorite pets through the years. As a mother of three sons, she was often called upon to care for unusual and often injured animals, such as mallard ducks, squirrels, rabbits, doves, quails, owls and even a goat. Nedra also enjoyed doing needlepoint and made many beautiful pieces, including Christmas stockings, one for each of her eleven grandchildren. She was an accomplished genealogist, having worked for decades researching several family lines of hers and her husband's family trees, including Andrus, Arceneaux and Reed.
Nedra was active in civic and community affairs, serving as past President and sustaining member of the Junior League of Lafayette and past board member of the Acadiana Arts Council, the Preservation Alliance of Lafayette, Acadian Village and USL Friends of the Library. Most recently, she was the co-chair of the Capital Campaign of Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum. She was also a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Friends of the Humanities, Friends of Music, Acadiana Symphony Women's League and Friends of the Sunshine Foundation. Prior to becoming a member of Asbury United Methodist Church, Nedra was a member of the First Baptist Church of Lafayette.
Nedra was preceded in death by her parents, Louise Guin Reed and Odis Archie Reed; her husband's parents, Yolande Arceneaux Andrus and Dwight Wilbur Andrus, Sr.; and her nephew, Nicholas Reed Voorhies.
She is survived by her husband of 57 years, Dwight Wilbur Andrus, Jr.; three sons, Dwight Wilbur Andrus, III and his wife Lisa Guidry Andrus, Reed Gordon Andrus and his wife Sarah Couch Andrus and David Whitcomb Andrus and his wife, Michelle Broadhurst Andrus; one sister, Sandra Reed Bolleter and her husband Vernon Thomas Bolleter; eleven grandchildren, Ashley Andrus Babin and her husband Todd Hunter Babin , Lynsey Andrus Braniff and her husband William Kyle Braniff, Dwight Wilbur Andrus, IV and his wife Megan Landry Andrus, Erin Andrus Carpenter and her husband Patrick Carnell Carpenter, Whitney Andrus Ashy and her husband Steven Mitchell Ashy, Jr., Adam Reed Andrus, Amanda Andrus Hudson and her husband Walter Allen Hudson, Jr., Tyler Elizabeth Andrus, Layne Whitcomb Andrus, Caleb Eads Andrus and Avery Elise Andrus; four great grandchildren, Caitlin Ross Andrus, Elizabeth Kay Braniff, Olivia Louise Babin and William Finnegan Braniff; and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.
Pallbearers are her three grandsons, Dwight Wilbur Andrus, IV, Adam Reed Andrus and Caleb Eads Andrus; five grandsons-in-law, Patrick Carnell Carpenter, William Kyle Braniff, Todd Hunter Babin, Steven Mitchell Ashy, Jr. and Walter Allen Hudson, Jr. Honorary Pallbearers will be Ronald Gordon Andrus, Albert Wayne Beacham, M.D., Byron Begnaud, Paul Blanchet, Jr., Vernon Thomas Bolleter, Ray Boyer, M.D., Gerald Wayne Thibodeaux and Shannon Turney, M.D.
The family requests that visitation be observed in Martin & Castille's DOWNTOWN Lafayette location on Tuesday, November 15, 2011 from 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM and will continue on Wednesday at Asbury United Methodist Church from 9:00 AM until time of service. Funeral Services will be conducted by Reverend Susan Ferguson and Reverend Richard Humphries. Lee Cooke and Ramona Carmichael, soloists, accompanied by Jan Cooke, pianist, will sing "In The Garden", "Just A Closer Walk With Thee" and "Amazing Grace" for the services. The eulogies will be delivered by Nedra's niece, The Reverend Dr. Nedra Louise Voorhies, Janet Rauschenberg Begnaud, Ashley Andrus Babin and Ronald Gordon Andrus. Interment will follow in Lafayette Memorial Park.
The family would like to express their gratitude to the doctors and nurses of the pulmonary unit and the ICU at Lafayette General Medical Center, for the outstanding care provided to Nedra. The family would also like to give special thanks to her primary caregivers, Marilyn, Lee and Jene and Hospice of Acadiana.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to be made in memory of Nedra Reed Andrus to Hospice of Acadiana, 2600 Johnston St., Suite 200, Lafayette, LA 70503 or on their website at www.HospiceAcadiana.com, or to the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum through the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Foundation, Inc., P. O. Box 44290, Lafayette, LA 70504.
Martin & Castille-DOWNTOWN-330 St. Landry St., Lafayette, LA 70506, 337-234-2311
