ACADIA PARISH — A friend, a leader, a man of service — those are just some of the words people in Acadia Parish used to describe retired Assistant Police Chief Carl Thibodeaux, whose life and legacy were honored Monday with a law enforcement funeral procession through Church Point. Community members lined the streets as it was one last chance to say "thank you" to a man who spent 35 years in uniform serving and protecting the town.
Church Point Police Captain and Commander Larry Charlot reflected on the lessons he learned from Thibodeaux during their time together in the department. “He was a good assistant chief and a good man, taught me a lot when I was working with him,” Charlot said. “The whole thing is to treat people the way you wanna be treated. If you do that, your job is a whole lot easier. Even the ones under the influence of alcohol or anything — if you talk to them right, they’ll listen to ya.”
Thibodeaux, known to many as “Mr. Carl,” retired in 2019 but remained a constant presence in the lives of his friends and neighbors. Ronald Carrier, who often shared coffee with him at the Texaco gas station, said the loss still doesn’t feel real. “This was his spot right here. It’s not the same when you lose somebody. We lived pretty close to each other to start off with. It’s not the same — you wake up in the morning and think about it, and go to bed at night and think about it,” Carrier said.
Former Police Chief Albert Venable remembered not only Thibodeaux’s long career but also his generosity and willingness to step up whenever he was needed. “An awesome cook. A lot of times him and I’d cook jambalaya for fundraisers, or whatever they needed — they’d call Carl and cook,” Venable said. He added, “A lot of times you didn’t even have to ask him, he’d always volunteer to do things and just an all-around guy. He was the type of person you enjoyed being with.”
Friends say that side of Thibodeaux — the mentor, the cook, the friend at the coffee table — is what made him unforgettable. Carrier described him as someone with a “nice personality, help you out in any way he could, bend over backwards to do whatever he could.”
Charlot, who worked with Thibodeaux for years, said his hope is that the community continues to hold on to those memories. “All I want for everybody that’s not here today is to remember him the way he was,” Charlot said.
Everyone who spoke about Carl Thibodeaux shared the same sentiment: his impact on Church Point will never be forgotten.
