(Top) Charlene Richard (Middle) Charlene with her brother (Bottom) Charlene's room

Charlene Marie Richard was born on the 13 January 1947 the second of ten children To Mary Alice and Joseph Richard in Arcadia Parish Louisiana USA. Her family were devout Christians and she grew up to have a remarkable devotion to her Christian faith,she would regularly pray the rosary and attend mass with her family in Church Point, where in 1957 at the age of ten she made her first communion,her grandmother had made a special dress, trimmed with flowers and with a wreath of flowers crowning her veil.

When Charlene was in fourth grade the family moved to the nearby town of Richard where she attended Richard Elementary School she was an avid sports enthusiast and soon joined the school softball and basketball teams, becoming captain. In sports as in her school work Charlene was competitive and wanted to be the best "She hated to lose" rememberd her mother,and when her team lost to a particular team she always wanted to be able to play that team again so she would have another chance to beat them. In the summers she would bake cookies, ride horses and play with her friends who nicknamed her "Charlie Brown". At St Edward's church she became an active member of the Junior Catholic Daughters, During summer vacations, St Edwards held a summer school program where Charlene and her brother especially enjoyed writing play's and acting then out. Charlene was close to all Her brothers and sisters especially her brother John Dale who was her "idol" her baby brother Gene was her godchild. Gene was killed at the age of 19 in an auto accident, and today his remains lie next to Charlene in St Edwards cemetery.

Charlene’s grandparents lived next door, and Charlene loved her grandmother very much.  She always wanted to spend the night at her grandmother’s house. The Richard children were supposed to take turns for the treat of a night over at their grandparents’ house, but Charlene would always fool her sister and promise her all sorts of things in order to get to take her place. Charlene was close to her “Mom Mom,” and it was this grandmother who shaped and encouraged the spiritual development of the young girl. Charlene loved to be helpful, her mother remembers that she would often get up after dinner and offer to clean the kitchen, telling her mother to rest on the couch. She would wake her mother when she had finished the chore and make a fresh pot of coffee for her. Just as she liked to be helpful in life, in death she seems to shower favors on those who ask in humble faith.

Charlene always stood up for the underdog, one day on the school bus a certain little boy constantly picked on a little girl who lived near Charlene, she had enough and went over to the boy to stop him from picking on the girl, the school bus driver made charlene sit down telling her that she wasn't normally mean and on asking why she had done that Charlene replied that it "isn't fair" and "why didn't you do something to him?"