Four More New Boats Added to Florida Marine Fleet - August 7, 2008
The latest in the long line of towboat christenings by Florida Marine Transporters was marked as much by the namesake who wasn’t there as by the ones who were.
The Mandeville, La.-based barge line held the bottle-breaking ceremony for four new boats August 7 at Brady’s Landing in Houston, Texas, after having to move the date back one day because of Tropical Storm Edouard.
Built by Eastern Shipbuilding Group, the new builds are named the mvs. R.D. Quebodeaux, Corey Quebodeaux, Cindy Hull and Stephanie Kennelly.
FMT owner Dennis Pasentine wanted to name a boat in honor of his company’s manager of boat maintenance, R.D. Quebodeaux. When Pasentine told him about it, Quebodeaux asked if he would name the boat after his son, Corey, who had died several years earlier in a rodeo accident. Pasentine agreed wholeheartedly, and in a gesture that others at FMT say is typical of the company founder, then named a boat after R.D. as well.
Remembering Corey Quebodeaux at the christening was a longtime family friend, Chris Orth, now vice president of Tidewater Marine. He recalled a young boy, who, even at the age of 10, made people feel as if they were the only person in the room when he talked to them.
“The first thing that hit you about him were his eyes,” Orth told the gathering. “He had the most gentle and calm eyes. You knew you had his undivided attention.
“He was very polite. He had what I call that Southern etiquette brought on by wonderful and very involved parents. He was also quiet and soft spoken, but when he said something it usually meant a lot.
“Lastly, he had a tremendous love of life. When he grinned, you couldn’t help grinning right along with him,” he said.
In connecting the new towboat Corey Quebodeaux to its namesake, Orth said to the crew: “May this ship have the calming vision of its namesake when seas get rough and may you find that ‘grin’ when the voyage becomes stressful.”
