Melvin Joseph Pedeaux Jr.

Melvin Joseph Pedeaux, Jr., June 10, 1941 to June 19, 2023, passed away quietly in the company of family after a struggle with complications from major surgery. He was preceded in death by his parents, Sybil Caire Pedeaux and Melvin Joseph Pedeaux, Sr. He is survived by his son, Jason Pedeaux, and two brothers, Bryan and Timothy, as well as two maternal aunts, Sisters Laura Ann Caire, RSC, and Margaret Mary Caire, RSC, and cousins too numerous to name here. He was born in New Orleans and grew up there and in Edgard. He attended Our Lady of Lourdes and Mater Dolorosa grammar schools. He then attended Edgard High School for three years, and finally De La Salle High School, from which he graduated in 1959. He enlisted in the US Air Force where he served as a re-fueling specialist at the Loring Strategic Air Command base in Maine. He recounted vivid memories of the Cuban Missile Crises at the base. He said that everything on the base that could fly was fully armed, fueled up, and idling on the runways ready for takeoff. Flights of nuclear armed B-52 bombers were constantly in the air, returning only to refuel and change crews before departing again. Almost everyone on the base expected war. He said he was reminded of all of this by the recent news of Russia threatening to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. After leaving the Air Force in 1963, Mel married Lynda Reinhardt and they had one son, Jason. At about this same time he opened the first of several nightclubs that he was to own or operate over the years, the Act IV, located behind what is now Lakeside Shopping Center. He later moved to the Thibodaux area where he acquired the Rebel Club and the Colonel’s Retreat, the latter of which was near the campus of Nichols State University. Another club, Yesterdays, in Houma, was the last of such ventures. In the late 1990’s, he went to work for Chouest Marine as a cook on an offshore oil field service boat with a crew of 12. He made one trip to Hawaii, and spent time in the Atlantic, but was otherwise stationed in the Gulf. His boat was one of those in the iconic photograph of the burning Deepwater Horizon drilling platform which were training their water cannons on the rig. He said that the heat was so intense that the water streams were evaporating before reaching the rig, and when it sank after 24 hours of their efforts a cry of relief went up from the crew. After retiring in 2011, Mel returned to Edgard where he spent his last years following sports, hitting a few golf balls in his yard, and engaging in his photography hobby. He eschewed what he called the “digital fad” and instead held fast to classic 35mm film. Many of his photographs are of skyscapes taken while he was at sea, but there are also landscapes. Despite his worsening heath, he remained optimistic and jovial, with his wry sense of humor intact to the end. We miss him. Relatives and friends are invited to attend the Visitation and Funeral Mass at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, 2349 Highway 18 (River Road), Edgard, Louisiana on Friday June 30, 2023. Visitation will be held at the church from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. followed by the Funeral Mass. Arrangements by Millet-Guidry Funeral Home. To share memories or condolences, please visit www.milletguidry.com

Tributes

Melvin Joseph Pedeaux Jr.

June 10, 1941 - June 19, 2023