Judy Snellgrove

Judy Marie Guidry Snellgrove, 78, passed away on December 17th, following a short battle with pancreatic cancer. Judy was born in Crowley to the late Edward Guidry and Levea Cormier Guidry on November 1st, 1947. She spent her childhood and teenage years in Franklin and Baldwin. She graduated from Franklin High School in 1965 (where she was homecoming queen), and went on to marry her high school sweetheart, Carlos Snellgrove. After supporting Carlos in his physical therapy education, they settled back in Franklin in 1971 and stayed for most of their lives.

Judy lived a life of unending service to her family. In the early years, it was support of Carlos in his education and establishing his business in Franklin. It then transitioned to the support of their sons, Boyd and Chad, in everything they did. She never missed a sporting event or school activity in all of their years. After she was “done” raising them (which she never really stopped), she moved on to helping with her grandchildren; however, she was much more than a grandmother. She would drive 8 hours to Temple, TX to help when her oldest granddaughter, Halee, was sick and would make numerous trips to Texas to spend long weekends. She was always quick to volunteer to keep her granddaughter Grace anytime Boyd and Mary Kay were out of town. Years later, when twins Mason and Maddox were born to Chad and Stacey, she wore out the Basin Bridge traveling to assist with them in Brusly. This carried into their school years, where she volunteered in their school cafeteria and was a chaperone on many school trips. Ten years later, her first great-grandchild Brooks was born and the cycle started again. She and Carlos and Mary Kay kept Brooks for the first year and a half of his life, to avoid daycare. Several years later, Judy and Mary Kay did the same for great-granddaughter Arden. She was the ultimate caregiver to each of those children. When she was with them, you knew they were in the best hands possible. If asked her greatest accomplishment in life, she would absolutely tell you that it was her sons, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

When Carlos received his cancer diagnosis in 2023, she turned her complete focus to his care, which could not have been any better. Although only lasting a short period of time, we all knew that he was well loved and taken care of. This made her own cancer diagnosis more difficult in August 2025. The family knew that we wouldn’t have Judy to rely on for the care. But we all pitched in to give her the best care that we could, in what turned out to be her final 4 months. She had set the bar pretty high, but I think we managed to achieve our goal of keeping her comfortable, keeping her company, and making sure that she knew she was loved by everyone around her.

Judy was quite athletic, developing from a tree-climbing child to a high school cheerleader to an avid adult tennis player of more than 30 years. It took a knee replacement in her 60s to scare her from getting back on the court. Until the very end, she loved reminiscing about her tennis teams and partners, playing in Franklin, Jeanerette, New Iberia, and Lafayette. Like most tennis players, she could still remember specific matches and points played decades ago (usually the ones she won). Judy was a good cook; however, she never got the chance, since Carlos would start cooking each meal before finishing the previous one. Her life in the kitchen became cleaning up after Carlos, who was notoriously messy while cooking…and while eating. It was an interesting marriage, with Judy insisting on a clean kitchen and a neat house, and Carlos doing everything to counter that! It even earned her the nickname of “The Maid” from Dr. Stirling. She loved gardening and working in the yard. She would even pitch in to help with yard work at Boyd’s, Chad’s, and Halee’s houses. She couldn’t stand to see a weed sticking up or a dead flower not broken off.

Judy had an interesting “talent” of remembering everyone’s birthday, not just immediate family. To her last days, she could tell you the birthday of over 50 people in the extended families, all of Boyd and Chad’s classmates from 40-50 years ago, and even friends of her grandkids. We are not too sure how valuable that talent was, but it was impressive. She also had a lifelong love of babies. She would approach anyone with an infant at the store, at a ballgame, or on the street. Within minutes, she knew everything about the kid, even their birthday! She could laugh for hours watching America’s Funniest Home Videos of kids. As technology evolved, she would Google kids’ videos and laugh out loud. She even liked the new AI videos of newborn babies talking.

She was a staunch conservative, usually glued to Fox News. Her political knowledge was well ahead of ours. She had a notebook with addresses and phone numbers of US senators and representatives. Not only the ones for our district, but the whole country! Ahead of important votes, she would call and write to any congressman felt to be “on the fence”. In a move that we should all possibly consider, she stopped watching the news when she was diagnosed with cancer in August. She said that she “didn’t feel like it was worth getting upset anymore”.

Judy is survived by her son Boyd and his wife Mary Kay, son Chad and his wife Stacey, grand-daughter Halee Snellgrove Maturin and her husband Tyler, grand-daughter Grace, twin grand-sons Mason and Maddox, and great-grandchildren Brooks and Arden. She is also survived by her only sibling Gloria Peterson and her husband James. Although they have been separated by distance for the past several years, their sisterly bond has remained strong, as evidenced by their cell phone minutes.

The family would like to thank Dr. Son Nguyen, Dr. Hemendra Mhadgut, Dr. Kurt O’Brien, and Dr. Jimmy Falterman for the highest level of care that could be imagined. Thanks to Iberia Medical Center and Abbeville General Hospital for excellent medical treatment. We also cannot give enough praise to Hospice of Acadiana and the Calcutta House for her treatment in her final days, as their staff is truly special. We would also like to thank Nita Darbonne, her “BFF” who provided non-stop food service since Carlos passed away. They were able to serve as each other’s support system as they each dealt with losing their spouse. Thanks to Christi and Toby Bailey, who are the best neighbors that you could ask for. In addition to also providing regular meals, they also were willing to do many of the small tasks that needed to be done around the house. Thanks to Peggy Tabor, who was considered family by Judy. She was a great help in the final months as a caregiver and companion.

In accordance with Judy’s wishes, a private memorial service will be held at a later date at First Methodist Church of New Iberia. Inurnment will take place at Holy Family Cemetery in New Iberia. Thanks to Pellerin Funeral Home for handling the arrangements. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in her memory to Hospice of Acadiana/Calcutta House or First Methodist Church of New Iberia.

Pellerin Funeral Home, 5002 Jefferson Terrace Blvd., New Iberia, LA 70560 (337-365-3331).