LAFAYETTE PARISH — A Lafayette man spent months searching for a woman he had never properly met, determined to return a hand-carved wooden bowl made from a tree she had lost to severe weather.
Johanna Kerico first appeared in a 2024 KATC story after a storm knocked down a red oak in her yard — a tree she had named Nicole, after a daughter she lost.
"I was very excited about having a big red oak tree in my yard, and I named it after a daughter I lost, Nicole, and it's on Fountain Blue, so the tree was named Nicole on Fountain Blue," Kerico said.
Woodworker sees story, salvages the wood
Gary LaLonde said the story moved him to act.
"That touched me, and I thought maybe I could find the house and get a piece of the wood," LaLonde said. "I took the wood home, and I cured it. Six months later, I had this little bowl made."
The two had briefly crossed paths at the tree site but never formally met.
"We didn't really get to see each other. We were just shouting back and forth across the tree," Kerico said.
Six-month search leads to a news card
With the bowl finished, LaLonde said he had no way to locate Kerico's home.
"I began to try to find the house and realized that I had no idea where it was. And I searched for it for about six months, I guess, seven months. I couldn't — I just couldn't let it go. I wanted to get this bowl back to her," LaLonde said.
He said he knocked on doors in the area for months without success. The breakthrough came unexpectedly.
"Looking through a bird book, this card fell out with KATC News on it and an address, 223 Gerald. And I thought, man, this is it. That's gotta be it — the house," LaLonde said.
Delivery made after two-year wait
LaLonde drove to the address and waited in the driveway until Kerico arrived home.
"He said, 'Did you lose a tree?' And I said, 'Yes, I did. And are you the man making the bowl?' And he said, 'Yes, I am.' So we got together and here it is. Isn't it beautiful?" Kerico said.
LaLonde said completing the delivery was deeply meaningful.
"It makes me feel fantastic, you know. A lot of people — some people never experience what I've experienced here, you know. It's a good feeling. I think God had his hand in all of this," LaLonde said.
