Don and Carolyn Simoneaux

We were both born in New Orleans and were cradle Catholics who grew up in that area. Nearly everyone where we lived was Catholic, and our Catholic identity was important for both our families. Other than a three-year period when Don’s family relocated to another area while he was in elementary school, we both attended public schools and prepared for sacraments using the old Baltimore Catechism. What we knew about our faith was mostly through rote learning.

We met in high school and got married when Don graduated from college. Our first child (a son) was born in New Orleans shorty before we moved away when Don went on active duty in the Navy. As a military family we moved frequently, and our second child (a daughter) was born in the New Orleans area, while our third child (another son) was born in Mississippi during the time Don was assigned to duty at a shipyard there.

During all the years of living far from our families, we always found a home away from home by attending Mass and volunteering to serve the Catholic communities where we lived. We felt like we had family (our Catholic family) wherever we went. We felt that especially after we moved to Plano in 1985 and found our new family at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. We feel truly blessed to have found such a welcoming, caring, and loving community and joyfully do what we can to support the parish by giving of our time, our talent, and our treasure.

Most of our friends are people we met through RCIA sponsoring and other ministries in which we’ve participated. We got a whole new group of friends recently when we had an opportunity to participate in a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with a group mostly from the parish. There are so many people we’ve met in the parish who have inspired us with the stories of their faith journeys and their devotion to worship. We feel truly blessed to have found our home here as we continue on our faith journey and discover more about our Catholic faith.