AN AMAZING MAN

JOSEPH ALBERT "BERT" PARADIS

1920 - 2020

TODAY HIS FAMILY IS BRINGING HIM HOME TO LOUISVILLE FOR BURIAL

Joseph Albert "Bert" Paradis, Jr., formerly of Louisville, died at his home in Naples, Florida on December 21. Born March 24, 1920, the second child of Joseph Albert Paradis, Sr. and his wife, Catherine Elizabeth, Bert grew up in Louisville, learned to drive when he was eight, attended Sacred Heart Model School, graduated from Male High School in Louisville and Georgetown Prep in Bethesda, Maryland. He attended Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and the University of Virginia before enlisting in the Naval Air Corps in 1941. Transferring to the Marine Corps, he saw action as squadron leader of VMF-22, "The Wake Avengers", became an "ace" and received the Distinguished Flying Cross. Returning to Louisville, Bert married Mary Jeanne Rammacher of Cincinnati, Ohio and found employment at Brandeis Machinery & Supply Corp., his family's firm. Bert and Jeanne had seven children. He became President of Brandeis upon his father's death in 1949 and worked at the firm until his retirement in 1990, when he and Jeanne moved to Naples, Florida. After Jeanne's death 1n 1995, Bert married JoAnn Mason Willig, and they continued to reside in Naples until his death. Bert was a former member of the Louisville and Jefferson County Air Board, the board of directors of Citizens Fidelity Bank & Trust Company, and one of initial founders of the Cathedral Heritage Foundation. He was also the founder of Collier Harvest in Naples, Florida.

He is preceded in death by his parents, his sister Celanire Paradis Buchart, his first wife and his younger daughter, Mary Helen (Noni). He is survived by his loving wife, JoAnn and her two daughters, Brooke Kelly and Jennifer O'Scannlain (Sean), his daughter, Mary Kristina, five sons: Joseph Albert, III, James F. (Michelle), John M., Steven J. and David H. (Kate), twenty grandchildren and step-granchildren and as well as seventeen great grandchildren.

A funeral mass was celebrated at St. Ann Catholic Church in Naples on December 30 at 11:00 a..m. Burial will follow in a private ceremony at Calvary Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky. A memorial mass will be arranged at the Cathedral of the Assumption in Louisville at a later date. In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy may be made by contribution to the Cathedral of the Assumption, Collier Harvest or the donor's preferred charity.

                                                    ADDITIONS FROM FATHER KNOTT

I was the pastor to Bert's family from 1983-1997. During that time I got to know Bert very well. Even before I arrived at the Cathedral, Bert had been pushing Archbishop Kelly to "do something with the Cathedral." It had been declining for many years and had reached a point of having only about 110 registered parishioners. Bert had been underwriting section leaders for the choir in hopes that would bring in more parishioners. That was followed by underwriting the cost of a new pipe organ. The old school was leased to Bert to be renovated for office rentals. 

Because of Bert's prodding for a leader to revitalize the parish, I was selected. I arrived on the scene and focused on revitalizing the congregation. Once the revitalization started to become a reality, the Cathedral Heritage Foundation was soon established to help with the restoration and expansion of the needed spaces. Bert then gave the remodeled old school building back to the Cathedral Parish for its use. In the fourteen years that followed, the parish grew to over 2100 members and multiple programs for the parishioners and the community were established. 

Bert served on the Cathedral Heritage Foundation until after the re-dedication when he retired to Florida.  Bert's wife, Jeanne, underwrote before she died my first two books of published Cathedral homilies. Bert's daughter, Kris, was the one who had suggested the name Cathedral Heritage Foundation. The Cathedral of the Assumption, as we know it today, would not have been possible without the energy, foresight and determination of my friend, Bert Paradis. I would call him the "Founding Father of the Second Golden Age." 

It will be my great honor to be there today to lead Bert's final commendation at Calvary Cemetery, just as I did for his first wife Jeanne, his daughter Noni, his daughter-in-law Barbara and his sister Celanire Paradis Buchart. 

"Well done, my good and faithful servant. Come share your master's joy." 

Matthew 25:21