Obituaries
Helen M. Rushing
Aug 25, 2026
Helen M. Rushing passed away on Tuesday, August 25, 2026 at the age of 87.
Visitation will be held at Resthaven Funeral Home, 11817 Jefferson Hwy. Baton Rouge, LA 70816, on Friday, August 28, 2026 from 8:30 a.m. until Funeral Service at 10:30 a.m. Interment will follow at Resthaven Gardens of Memory.
A more detailed and specific obituary will be available soon,...
Judith "Judy" Batchelder Kalassay
Aug 24, 2026
Judith “Judy” Batchelder Kalassay, (Mom, Grandma, Gammy, Grandma Judy, and Gigi) passed away peacefully on August 24, 2026 in Baton Rouge LA. She was at home with family and her much loved Big Band music playing as she took her final breath. Judy was born February 11, 1939 to Marjorie and Endicott Batchelder. She was a native of Pittsburgh, PA...
Paul Michael Bessman
Aug 22, 2026
Paul Michael Bessman passed away on Saturday, August 22, 2026, at the age of 69.
A more detailed and specific obituary will be available soon, please visit this site for updates.
Family and friends may sign the online guestbook or leave a personal note to the family at www.resthavenbatonrouge.com.
Claudia "Merle" Bates
Aug 20, 2026
Claudia "Merle" Bates, 90, of Greenwell Springs, LA, passed away with love on August 20th, 2026. She was born in Baton Rouge and graduated from lstrouma High School in 1954. She married Raymond "Razer" Bates, her high school sweetheart, in 1953 until his passing in 2006.
Merle, as she was always called, was the talk of the neighborhood in Central. She...
John M. Pearson Sr.
Aug 19, 2026
John M. Pearson Sr. passed away on August 19, 2026, just shy of his birthday on August 24, 2026. He was born in Baton Rouge on August 24, 1948. He was the last of twelve kids born to Clem Pearson Sr and Vivian Pearson. The Pearson Family was such a big family that at the time of his birth he...
Ruby Firmin Bacon
Aug 19, 2026
Ruby Firmin Bacon, a native of Simmesport and a resident of Baton Rouge, LA, passed away peacefully at home on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, at the age of 92. Before retiring, she spent her career working as a lab assistant at the Pathology Group of Louisiana
Ruby was a member of the Sunshine Band, where they played at multiple nursing homes....
John "Chip" Collins
Aug 18, 2026
John "Chip" Collins, born March 18, 1960, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, went home to be with our Lord on August 18, 2026.
He grew up in Baton Rouge and was a member of Winbourne Avenue Baptist Church, where his faith in God deepened and flourished. When he was 12 years old, he began studying Tae Kwon Do under Master Ki Yoon....
Gwen Davis Crouch
Aug 18, 2026
Gwendolyn “Gwen” Davis Crouch passed away peacefully at home on August 18, 2026.
Born in New Orleans, Louisiana on February 1, 1940, she grew up in the close-knit community of Gramercy. After graduating from Lutcher High School, she moved to Baton Rouge to attend Louisiana State University, where she got a degree in early education. She began and ended her teaching...
Jimmie Lawson Peterson
Aug 17, 2026
Jimmie Lawson Peterson left this world on Monday, August 17, 2026, to be welcomed to Heaven by her Lord and Savior and reunite with her husband, Floyd Richard “Dickie” Peterson and daughter, Kathryn Ann “Kathy” Peterson. Born to James Albert and Doris Raiford Lawson on June 15, 1930, Jimmie went on to leave the footprints of a hero in the...
Wilton "Sonny" J. Pino
Aug 17, 2026
Wilton Joseph (Sonny) Pino, Jr., age 96 passed away in Sandy Springs, GA on August 17, 2026. Sonny was born in Baton Rouge, LA on June 21, 1930, to Wilton Joseph Pino, Sr. and Ida Mae Davis Pino and attended school in Baker, LA. He met the love of his life, Patsy Ruth Vick, at the Community Club in Baton...
Dr. Allan “Doc” Roy Allbritton
Aug 17, 2026
Allan Roy Allbritton, DVM, PhD, age 91, passed after a long illness under hospice care at The Pearl at Jamestown, an assisted living facility in Baton Rouge, on August 17, 2026. He was pre-deceased by his wife of over 70 years, Irene Shiel Allbritton, who died August 20, 2024. Allan and Irene were long-time members of St. Theresa Catholic Church...
J. Stanley “Skip” Bertman
Aug 14, 2026
J. Stanley “Skip” Bertman, the legendary LSU baseball coach and athletics director whose innovative vision significantly impacted the state of Louisiana, its flagship university, and the evolution of collegiate athletics, passed away early Friday morning, August 14, 2026, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was 88 years old.
Bertman, born in Detroit, Michigan on May 23, 1938, and raised in Miami Beach,...
Gail Chastant
Aug 14, 2026
To the world, she was Gail Chastant.
To her family, she was the World.
Theresa “Gail” White Chastant passed away on August 14, 2026. The youngest of five children, Gail was a devoted wife, loving mother, treasured grandmother, and faithful friend. Her warm smile, gentle spirit, quiet strength, and unwavering kindness left a lasting imprint on everyone she encountered.
Gail shared a love...
Christina Louise Plaisance
Aug 14, 2026
Christina Louise Plaisance, born on February 18, 1949, passed away on Friday, August 14, 2026, at the age of 77.
Christina was born in Alexandria, Louisiana. She earned her Bachelors from Louisiana State University. After she graduated, she spent years creating a loving home to raise her family in. Christina was a member of Grace Life Fellowship Church, and always enjoyed...
Gerald E. Moses Jr.
Aug 13, 2026
Gerald Eugene Moses, Jr., passed away peacefully in his home on August 13, 2026. He was 94. He was born in La Porte, Texas, on February 27,1932, and graduated from Lamar High School in Houston in 1950.
He joined the United States Marine Corps Reserve in 1949 and served with the First Marine Division in Korea from 1950 to 1951. He...
Mildred Jesse George
Aug 13, 2026
Mildred Jesse George, 94, passed away peacefully on August 13, 2026. She was born on January 5, 1932, in Kingsville, Texas, to Emil Adolf Jesse and Irene Broderhausen Jesse, and was raised on a farm in South Texas alongside her four sisters and one brother. From an early age, she valued family deeply, a devotion that remained central throughout her...
Robert "Bryan" Niebuhr
Aug 12, 2026
Bryan Niebuhr, age 70, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, due to complications from several chronic illnesses.
He was born in New York, NY, on October 19, 1955, and spent his youth near Baltimore, Maryland. He graduated from Mount St. Joseph High School in Baltimore where he excelled in many sports, most notably wrestling and football. He received a...
Annie Higginbotham Sanford
Aug 10, 2026
Annie Higginbotham Sanford, 89, passed away in Baton Rouge on August 10, 2026. Annie grew up in Gueydan and Church Point, Louisiana. She was the daughter of the late Iram and Mabel (Lyons) Higginbotham. After graduating as co-valedictorian of Church Point High School, she moved to Baton Rouge to attend Louisiana State University (LSU).
While studying accounting at LSU, she met...
Myrna B. Clement
Aug 10, 2026
Myrna B. Clement, born on September 20, 1941, passed away on Monday, August 10, 2026, at the age of 84.
Myrna was born in French Settlement, Louisiana. After graduating from high school, she spent many years creating a loving home to raise her family in. She was a member of St. Alphonsus Catholic Church and St. George Catholic Church. Myrna always...
Patsy Dyson Pickett
Aug 8, 2026
Patsy Dyson Pickett, 78, a resident of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and native of Texarkana, Texas, passed away after a prolonged illness. Patsy lived a life centered around her love for her family.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Alfred Chambers Pickett III; her daughter, Claire Pickett; and her parents, Ernest Dyson and Ada Dyson.
She is survived by her daughter,...
