“We (father and son) would get across the bench form each other and race,” the son said. “We would make a batch of 100 cinnamon rolls, at times he would be ahead of me by five or six, then I would be ahead. But they all had to be perfect.”

Murphy Chatagnier wasn’t stingy with his recipes, both of his children said. He made them available to all other bakers because he felt “if they did good, then he would do good.”

Chatagnier was an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed duck hunting and fishing.

“He would ‘hunt for the market,’ which is basically poaching,” he said of the long ago days. “He would go across the canal at Sabine Pass and shoot ducks and sell them for 35 cents each. People would be on the lookout for the game warden for him.”

Murphy Chatagnier served as a board member for the Hughen School, Texas Bakers Association and founded the Texas retail Bakers Association. He was a life-member of the Port Arthur Sertoma Club, the American Legion as well as the Elks Club in earlier years.

He is survived by his wife, Gertrude, daughter Cheryl Carson, son Randy Chatagnier and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

A wake will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday at Clayton Thompson Funeral Home. Services will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home.