Grace "Perk" Simons Ducrest

Funeral services will be held at 1:00 PM on Thursday, September 17, 2020, in the Delhomme Chapel of the Flowers, for Mrs. Willis Francis Ducrest, age 94, the former Grace "Perk" Simons Ducrest, who died on September 14, 2020, at Camelot of Broussard. Brother Luther Burney of First Baptist Church of Lafayette will officiate. Interment will be in Lafayette Memorial Park Cemetery, 2111 Pinhook Road, Lafayette, LA, where she will be laid to rest next to her husband whom she dearly loved. Their marker reads, "Together Forever." Survivors include her two sons and their wives, Frank David and Janell Pease Ducrest of Lafayette, LA and Ted Albert and Maxine Landry Ducrest of Loreauville, LA; two grandchildren, David Lawrence Ducrest and wife Amanda Rodrigue of Boston, MA, and Danielle Frances Ducrest of Lafayette, LA; and caring step-grandson, Jon Stephen Ducrest and wife Tammy Dotson, and step-great-grandson Austin Jon Ducrest, all of TN. She was preceded in death by her husband of over 55 years, Willis Francis Ducrest, Professor Emeritus and retired Director of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette School of Music, who died April 29, 2004; parents, Willard L., Sr. and Mary Alice Clark Simons; sisters Mary Alice Simons White and Rita Nell Simons Poelker; brothers Robert H. Simons, Willard L. Simons, Jr. and James A. Simons; and stepson Willis Stephen Ducrest. A native of Boyce, LA, and a graduate of Boyce High School, she was a resident of Lafayette when she entered SLI (now University of Louisiana - Lafayette) July 1943, graduating in 1947 with a BA degree in Education. Before retirement, she taught in the Public School Systems of Morehouse, Rapides and Lafayette Parishes with 20 years of service, 17 of those years at Montgomery Elementary School, Lafayette, LA, where she served as a Supervising Teacher. Among the organizations to which she belonged and honors which she held were Nominee for Outstanding Elementary Teachers of America Awards, Patroness of Sigma Alpha Iota (International Music Fraternity for Women), member of First Baptist Church, Children's Sunday School Teacher, Secretary for Adult Bible Class, and member of LA Retired Teachers Association and Lafayette Parish Teachers Association. It was under her guidance that the family of Willard and Mary Alice Clark Simons established an Endowed Scholarship in their memory in 1989 at the School of Music of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She was devoted to her loving family and had many hobbies including oil painting, family genealogy research, gardening and decorating. The family asks that visiting hours be observed at Delhomme Funeral Home – Bertrand on Thursday, September 17, 2020, from 11:00 AM until the time of service. The family wishes to thank her caregivers for so many years, Mrs. Lakrisha Anthony and Mrs. Lenora Isaac, and the nurses, doctors and aides at Camelot of Broussard and Magnolia Estates. The family also wishes to thank Dr. Michael Alexander, Dr. Gene Brierre, Dr. Bahaman Daneshfar and Dr. E. Paul Breaux for helping her become a cancer survivor for many years. And thanks to Dr. John J. Mickey, many friends and wonderful Tackaberry Road neighbors. The family requests that donations be made, in her memory, to the University of Louisiana - Lafayette School of Music Scholarship Fund for the Willard and Mary Alice Clark Simons Endowed Scholarship or to the Willis F. Ducrest Endowed Scholarship c/o The ULL Foundation, P.O. Box 44290, Lafayette, LA 70504 or to a charity or church of your choice. Personal condolences may be sent to the Ducrest family at www.delhommefuneralhome.com. Delhomme Funeral Home, 1011 Bertrand Drive, Lafayette, LA, is in charge of funeral arrangements.

Grace "Perk" Simons Ducrest

October 18, 1925 - September 14, 2020