Phuong Mai Dermody, beloved wife, sister, mother, and grandmother was born in Vietnam on October 19, 1958 and she passed away in her home at the age of 61 on October 21, 2019.
Phuong was an artistic person, a voracious reader, loved all children and enjoyed taking care of others. She won a grant into Hilo Community College in 1975 with an essay. She had aspirations of becoming a writer and an artist, but gave up her dream to help her mother care for her younger siblings. She met her husband Marco in Hawaii while he was serving in the Navy. Their life adventures took them to Baton Rouge. An already phenomenal cook she combined her expertise in traditional Vietnamese cooking with the Cajun food local to the area. Using her culinary talents and husband’s business acumen they opened Acadian Seafood. The tiny market on the corner of a strip mall grew, to a market with a dining area, then into a full blown 300 seat restaurant with banquet facilities and a wholesale seafood distributorship.
After 15 years in the restaurant industry, Phoung and her husband decided that they were ready to embark on their next big adventure. Off to Clinton, LA they went to become ostrich ranchers. A brand new industry in the US they had to teach themselves the entire process from beginning to end. Throughout this process Phoung found her way back to her artistic roots painting and carving art on the ostrich eggs left over from raising the birds and using the feathers to create gorgeous hair combs and decorative masks.
She is preceded in death by her son, Rey Dermody, her younger sister, Yen Mai and her parents Mr. Tam Mai and Mrs. Lisa Le. She is survived by her husband Marco Dermody, sons Marco Dermody Jr and Joseph Dermody, grandson Alexander Dermody, and her siblings Oanh, Phuoc, Hanh, Toan, Loan, Tai, Kim, and Le as well as many nieces and nephews both here in the US and in Vietnam.
Visitation will be on Tuesday October 29, 2019 at Charlet Funeral Home in Zachary from 5:00 pm until 8:00 pm and will continue on Wednesday October 30, 2019 from 10:00 am until 11:30 am followed by a funeral mass to be held at 12:00 pm at St John the Baptist Catholic Church.