Barbara Bahlinger dips her spoon into a cup of gumbo.

It's seafood, her favorite made by her favorite Mandeville restaurant, Mandina's, where she huddles at a corner table with her niece and nephew, Bruce and Mary Gay Bahlinger.

The 95-year-old lives in the Covington retirement community St. Anthony's Gardens, but her conversation drifts to Baton Rouge, where, on the previous Sunday, St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church rededicated its devotional garden in her and her sister’s names.

Barbara Bahlinger bonded with the church while serving as a missionary in north Baton Rouge. Specific years escape her when looking back now, but details are vivid.

Her sister, Kathleen Bahlinger, who died in 2013, was a nun in the Congregation of St. Joseph. Barbara Bahlinger chose a different ministerial

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