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Three Generations - Diana Ortemond, Mary Catherine Ortemond Franques and Christy Ortemond Franques (L-R) on Oct. 30, 2015.

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1963 Erath High Court Maxine Baudoin Hebert, Patricia Suire Hebert Baudoin, Crown Bearer Deana Bernard Simon, Diana Romero
Ortemond, Toni Dubois Moss and Margo Butler LeBlanc

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Christy Ortemond Franques, 1984 Queen

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Mary Catherine with her sister, Anna Grace Franques.

Family has three generations of Homecoming Queens

By Melissa Hargrave
Correspondent

On Friday, October 30th, Erath native Mary Catherine Franques was crowned Homecoming Queen of Ascension Episcopal School. What makes this honor even more significant is that Mary Catherine is a third generation Homecoming queen – her mother and grandmother were also crowned during their senior year, while attending Erath High.
Mary Catherine is the daughter of André and Christy Franques and the granddaughter of Diana and the late Leon Ortemond. During her senior year, Diana (née) Romero was crowned the 1963 Erath High School Homecoming Queen. She was informed of her selection ahead of time. The tradition that year was for the queen to wear white, so Diana had a white suit specially made for the occasion. She was presented at half time, during the Homecoming football game, and was also featured in the Homecoming parade.
Diana recalls, “It was a wonderful experience of my youth while going to school in Erath. It was the most exciting thing. When you’re in high school, everything is about your activities. Being selected was quite an honor. I was thrilled. It’s something you remember for the rest of your life.”
In 1984, while Leon and Diana Ortemond had seats of honor on the field in celebration of their 20 year class reunion, their daughter Christy was crowned Homecoming queen of Erath High. Like her mother before her, Christy also knew ahead of time that she had been chosen. She wore a red and black suit purchased from the Gallery of Fashion, a very popular clothing store in Abbeville during the 1980’s.
Christy recalls, “It was quite an honor to be selected by my peers. I was very humbled. It was special to follow in my mom’s footsteps, especially since my parents were being honored that night. My dad escorted me down the field, and that is a special memory I hold of him now that he has since passed on.”
This year, mom Christy and grandmother Diana were both on hand to watch Mary Catherine being escorted by dad André down the field. Unlike her mother and grandmother before her, Mary Catherine did not know in advance that she had been selected. Wearing an ivory suit purchased online from Alice and Olivia, Mary Catherine was joyfully overwhelmed by the announcement. She comments, “I was surprised and happy. I feel like it’s an honor to represent the school in this way.” On being a third generation Homecoming Queen, Mary Catherine adds, “It is pretty special that I can carry on the legacy because it is an honor.”
It was an emotional experience for Christy as well, “On Friday night when my daughter was crowned Homecoming Queen, it made me realize how my parents must have felt when I was crowned. I was so proud of Mary Catherine, and it was neat to know that she was going to get the same experience that I did. I teach my children to be good and kind to people, and to know that she was selected by her peers is reassuring.”
The event was even more memorable because Ascension Episcopal School selects one eight grader to be on the Homecoming court, and it just so happened that this year’s selectee was Mary Catherine’s sister, Anna Grace. According to Mary Catherine, “It was a great experience for the both of us.”
With this great memory of her senior year to carry with her, Mary Catherine now looks to the future. After graduation she plans to major in nursing at either Louisiana State University or Texas Christian University.

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