METAIRIE, La. (WGNO) – Tabitha Diecidue of Metairie grew up celebrating Saint Joseph’s Day.
After her grandmother died, she was determined to keep her memory alive and reinvigorate the dying tradition.

“I wanted to get involved in an altar in her memory. I really started looking around to see what altars were left and there weren’t a lot. You could really see that this tradition was fading out with the older generation,” said Diecidue.

She decided to build a small altar at her alma mater, Archbishop Chapelle.
The school and fellow neighbors loved the idea.

“What started as a one table altar in the library you get a bunch of Italian women together and this happens. So four years later, we have this huge 45 table altar and it’s completely amazing,” said Diecidue.

Then the students wanted to get in on the fun.

“Their curiosity got the best of them. They came through and they saw it and they started asking questions,” said Diecidue.

“I gave up so much time to bake the cookies and calling my friends and being like ‘hey we need help, come bake cookies’ so it brings the school together as a community, not only the students, but also the faculty, grandmothers and granddaughters come, generations were coming to bake cookies,” said Janet Nelson, a senior at Archbishop Chapelle

“You put together the whole altar and we bake cookies and make cakes and it’s really nice, I love it. Now people at Chapelle get to see what it’s all about and hopefully their families will carry on the tradition,” said Sophia Vankson, a junior at Archbishop Chapelle.

Tabitha’s grandmother instilled the importance of Saint Joseph’s Day in her heart.
Now she’s doing that for the young women in her community.