On March 23, 1957 Brenda Marie Thomas was born to Fannie Marie Reed and Harold Quick Thomas. She came into this world keeping everyone on their toes. She was born big and breech and with beautiful red hair and glistening blue eyes to match her fiery and passionate personality. She grew up on a farm in Ashland, Louisiana as the youngest of five children where her parents were farmers and grocery store owners. As a child she was adventurous. She climbed trees and helped on the farm. She suddenly and unexpectedly lost her daddy to leukemia when she was 5 years old. She moved to Patterson, Louisiana along with her family in the late 1960’s. In her teenage years her sense of adventure and hard work continued. She drove motorcycles and was a cheerleader at Patterson High School. While in school she worked at Belles Department Store and Kroger’s to help make ends meet at home while her mother also went back to college to become a school teacher.
Upon marrying her high school sweetheart Brenda had two daughters, Angelena Marie Swords and Calyn Lee Swords and became the absolute best mom in the whole entire world. She gave, loved and sacrificed. She played with and liked her two girls just as much as she loved them. When life started to veer off course as happens for most she went back to work. Never one to sit around and wait for things to happen she hopped up and made the decision to go back to school for psychology and got a job at Fairview Hospital in Bayou Vista. It was during this time that she met and married her late husband Jesse W. Simon. During their 22 loving years of marriage they also shared driving a school bus route together for St. Mary Parish school system.
Life was never boring with Brenda around. In 1990 she decided that real estate was her calling and she dove right into becoming the very best and brightest in the real estate industry in South Louisiana. Her work ethic, honesty and ability to connect with people from all walks of life gave her the unique ability to help people find a house and turn it into a home. She founded Simon Real Estate, LLC in 2002 and it was here that she created a legacy of honesty, integrity and brilliance in real estate that continues to successfully serve South Louisiana today. In addition to helping families find and sell their homes she has also mentored other women on their journey to fulfilling careers in real estate.
In March 2022 she was diagnosed with cancer. Despite feeling afraid of what was to come she jumped straight in to prayer and treatment at M.D. Anderson in Houston with her family beside her. She battled and won and was cancer free that September. After a year it was discovered that her cancer had returned. The opportunity to be a part of a clinical trial for her cancer type became available. She prayed and then said yes. She said yes to hope and to this unique opportunity to fight the disease that has taken so much from so many. While the treatment did work on the cancer it was designed to treat, it did not work in preventing the spread of the disease.
She passed away on the morning of May 14, 2024 surrounded by her loving and adoring daughters, sons-in-law and longtime companion, Erwin Labat. There were prayers, tears, hope and sadness and most of all, gratitude for her, for a life well lived and for the legacy she leaves behind.
Brenda lived a blessed life. A life that was filled with joys and sorrows, hopes and dreams, disappointments and new beginnings. She was grateful for each and every moment. She was a great person, mom, meme, daughter, sister, companion, friend, dancer, cook, driver, artist, entrepreneur and go-getter. She drank her coffee black, liked her steaks well done and her margaritas with extra salt. She loved her swing in the backyard, making up songs for her babies, dancing with Erwin, shopping with her sister, daughters and friends until late into the night and taking spontaneous trips to places near and far. She said that while she trusted God and his plan for her, she sometimes didn’t feel ready to move on not because she was afraid but because she was so grateful for this beautiful life and she wanted more. More of all that makes life worth living. Her faith in God and in her savior Jesus Christ gave her peace as she took her final breath. A breath filled with gratitude for every second that she was gifted from God.
Brenda was welcomed into Heaven by her parents, Harold and Marie Thomas; and her husband, Jesse Willard Simon.
Brenda leaves behind a legacy of love and kindness that will be carried on by her daughters, Angelena Marie Swords Brocato and her husband Lyle, and Calyn Lee Swords Welch and her husband Lawrence; her grandchildren, Rocco Brocato, Luca Brocato, Lawrence Welch IV, Rossi Brocato, Parrish Welch and Franco Brocato; her long time love, Erwin Labat; her siblings, Linda Martin, Jimmy Thomas, Barbara Brinley and Glow Michel; as well as a host of extended family and friends.
The family requests that visiting hours be observed Friday, May 17th, at Ibert’s Mortuary in Patterson from 10:00 AM until 12:00 PM, at which time the Holy Rosary will be prayed followed by procession to St. Joseph Catholic Church for a 1:00 PM Mass of Christian Burial. She will be laid to rest in the St. Joseph Cemetery Mausoleum. Father Richard Greene will be the Celebrant for the Mass and conduct the services.
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)
Family and friends may view the obituary online by visiting www.iberts.com and are encouraged to share their condolences, cherished memories, love, and support for the family.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Ibert’s Mortuary, Inc., 1111 Lia Street, Patterson, LA 70538, (985) 395-7873.