A shining light

By: RHETT MANUEL
Sports Editor

CHATAIGNIER – Family, friends and classmates gathered Monday evening at the Chataignier Elementary School gym to pay tribute to a late classmate.
Ty Ardoin was a seventh grade student at Chataignier Elementary, a Ville Platte resident and member of the school’s basketball team. Ardoin was involved in a car wreck and passed away on Monday, October 17, at Oschner Lafayette General Medical Center.
He was only 12-years-old.
Tragedy has a way of bonding people from all walks of life. So, it comes as no surprise that when the school held a candlelight memorial tribute to its student on Monday in between the boys’ and girls’ basketball games it was a packed room.
In the short service Ty’s jersey was presented to his parents, classmate memories were shared about the young man’s life and his number 55 jersey was retired.
For the basketball program, it is the ultimate tribute to the impact Ty made to his community that his uniform number will never be worn again.
It’s the best way the program knew how to pay tribute to a part of their community. However, the memories shared by Ardoin’s classmates speak to the childhood innocence lost in the accident.
“One time when we were outside at my house, he stopped by when we were throwing the football,” a teacher shared on behalf of the classmate. “He showed me how to throw one.”
“Since that day, every time I see a football I’ve always thought of Ty.”
Another classmate shared “I remember one time we were in the band room and he let me braid his hair and put pigtails. He would just let me do it like the sweet, patient person he was.”
Another said, “I remember hanging out with him at the Tee Cotton Bowl. I’m never going to forget his smile or his laugh.”
Ty’s number will hang in Chataignier’s gym for as long as the building remains standing in tribute.