Dr. Etienne Varoqui, 82, of Metz, France, died unexpectedly at his daughter's home in Slidell, Louisiana, on Sunday, November 20, 2022.

He was born August 26, 1940, in the town of St Etienne, France, where his parents Michel Varoqui and Marie Stab had evacuated to escape bombings in their hometown of L'Hôpital during World War II. He was grateful to American soldiers who saved his life with the gift of penicillin when he developed peritonitis from a ruptured appendix as a young child. A post-war childhood taught him to waste nothing, repair everything, build brick walls like the best masons, grow vegetables, tend to chickens, and milk the family cow. His parents, a charcoal miner and a homemaker, were determined to send their six children to college and encouraged hard work and academic success. He studied medicine in Strasbourg, France and opened a family practice in 1970 in the underserved neighborhood of Metz-Borny. Later in 1984, he joined the administrative side of medicine as a government employee. He married his wife of 56 years, Rose-Marie Scher in 1966 and they had three children, Bertrand, Jérôme and Hélène (Jeff Erickson). They gave him seven grandchildren, Madeleine, Sissel, Jérémi, Elisa, Lena, Eloise, and Tommy, whom he cherished.

A proud Frenchman, he learned to love America, and Louisiana in particular, where his daughter Helene settled. He visited often and made many dear friends. He enjoyed welcoming them in his house, feeding them home grown vegetables and taking them on a tour of his beautiful hometown of Metz, with an obligatory stop at the magnificent Cathedral St Etienne. He was a family man, honest, generous, fun, and always ready to lend a helping hand. He loved good food, French wine and parties, maps of all sorts, which he deployed constantly as dream fodder, French history and trees. When he retired in 2004, he purchased a small forest, which he managed with love and joy, studying, planting, falling trees, and chopping wood to deliver to his friends and family. He was a faith filled catholic, and was very active in his church, "Eglise Sainte Lucie "in Metz-Vallières.

He will be dearly missed by his wife, brother Henri, children, grandchildren and many nephews and nieces.

A Funeral Mass will be held at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, 400 Westchester Blvd, Slidell LA 70458, on Wednesday, December 7, 2022.

Visitation will begin at 3:00pm, followed by the Funeral Mass at 4:00pm.