Edna Poche Drude Gillman was called to heaven on Friday, October 27, 2017. She was born on January 10, 1914, in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, to Paul Melville and Caroline “Cora” Perrin Poche.
Edna is survived by her six children, Sandara Drude Temento (Henry), Marlyn Drude Meunier (Paul), Eva Rose Drude Dickson (Herb), Barbara Drude Hebert (Albert), Martin Gayle Gillman DeJean (Dennis), and Martin Joseph “MJ” Gillman, III (Marie); eleven grandchildren, Nicole Meunier Rinden, Tammye Medlin, Jeri Medlin Clouse, Blake Hebert, Rhonda Hebert, Eric Hebert, Mark Hebert, Melissa Gillman, Dr. Lindsey Gillman Xiao, Denise DeJean, and Jacques DeJean, eleven great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews.
Edna was preceded in death by her husbands, Merlin Leonard Drude and Martin Joseph Gillman, Jr., first granddaughter, Kymbra Recatto Downing, five brothers, Homer "Pete" Poche, Elmer "Bill" Poche, Melville Carl Poche, Jules Arthur Poche, and Hollis Herbert Poche, and three sisters, Elsie Brumfield, Edith Weir, and Estelle Pittman Brescher.
Her favorite pass time was gardening, and her "green thumb" (Poche genes) produced very beautiful flowers and super home-grown vegetables. No one could pack a beautiful flat of strawberries like her while helping her brother Hollis on his strawberry farm. She often talked about her childhood and how it was a treat to travel into town once a month via horse and buggy on the dirt roads of Ponchatoula. Most of all, Edna will be remembered for her delicious recipes for down-home cooking and baking from her shrimp spaghetti and gumbo to delicious heavenly hash, pralines, fudge, and homemade cakes and ice cream, as well as bread n’ butter pickles, jellies and jams. She was one lucky lady at playing bingo and a wiz at crossword puzzles.
A graveside service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, November 6th, at the Ponchatoula Cemetery.
An online guest book is available at www.harrymckneely.com
