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The Life of Jeanne Marie Gilmore

The light of our lives has dimmed and faded. She died as she lived, with quiet dignity.A Requiem Mass will be Celebrated at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Lafayette, Louisiana on Monday, May 15, 2006 at 3:00 PM for Jeanne-Marie LeBlanc Gilmore. Mrs. Gilmore was born on November 26, 1911 in Lafayette, Louisiana and died in the city of her birth on May 7, 2006. Mrs. Gilmore is survived by her daughters, Catherine Gilmore van Zanten and her husband, Rene van Zanten of Austin, Texas; Margaret Gilmore and her husband, Howard Sussman of Tucson, Arizona; grandson, Johan Andries van Zanten of Austin, Texas and granddaughter, Jeanne-Marie van Zanten of Los Angeles, California. She is also survived by her nephew, Louis A. LeBlanc of Rome, Georgia, a niece, Katherine Kimberlin Duhe, a nephew, C. P. Gilmore; her devoted caregivers, Rose and Matthew Batiste, Lorena Benoit, Helaria Broussard, Julia Francois, Vivian Joseph and Florena LeBlanc. She was preceded in death by her husband of fifty six years, Dr. Robert Gilmore; her parents, Samuel James LeBlanc and Gabrielle Guchereau LeBlanc; her brothers, Samuel James LeBlanc, Jr. and the Reverend Louis Anthony LeBlanc.A graduate of Mt. Carmel Academy in Lafayette, she received a bachelor's degree in French at SLI (now ULL) She was an accomplished pianist and also studied voice. As a young musician growing up in Lafayette, she played the organ and sang at the Cathedral, St. Genevieve, The Methodist Church, occasionally for Temple Shalom and also for the silent movies downtown. She also did graduate studies at the University of Texas and later received a degree in library science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was employed as teacher-librarian in St. John the Baptist Parish for eight years, at the University of Indiana Library and at the New York Public Library for two years. She worked at the ULL Dupre library for 20 years and retired in 1970. It was in 1955, while working at the NY Public Library (Main Branch on 5th Avenue) that she discovered the recently published C.S. Lewis Books for children (now known as the Narnia Chronicles) that were so enjoyed by her daughters. Mrs. Gilmore used her expertise in French to catalogue the many books in French that came into the ULL library; she also studied German and Russian in order to be able to write up the descriptions needed for the card catalogue. Mrs. Gilmore was one of the guiding spirits in the days leading up to the birth of the ULL Federal Credit Union, active in the Louisiana Iris Society and helped them facilitate the shipping of many Louisiana native and cultivated irises to the Deauville, France estate of Yves St. Laurent. Mrs. Gilmore and her husband did extensive research on Louisiana French folksongs all over Louisiana and in the Maritime provinces of Canada, and traced some of the songs back to France. Together they published several books of collections of Louisiana French music. She loved the two years that her famly spent in New York City while her husband was in graduate school at Columbia University. She made sure that her daughters saw everything that the city had to offer; experiencing cultural events the memories of which they would treasure all of their lives. Martin & Castille Funeral Home, Inc. of Lafayette has been chosen to help with the arrangements.337-234-2311

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2006.05.15
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