A few months ago I was sitting on my patio when a young man came up and introduced himself. My wife recognized him as one of her former students, when she taught at Berwick Junior High. His name was Greg Landry, son of Dr. Dudley Landry and Mickey Pearson. He wanted to know something about his grandfather, Mr. Milton H. Wilson. He said he had been to his gravesite, but he wanted to know more about his life.
Milton Wilson, to me, was one of the finest policemen I ever knew. He was police chief as well as fire chief. He drove the one school bus in Berwick at that time; he walked all over Berwick reading water meters. He owned the old Buck Horn Saloon; he was always in charge of the Woodman’s Circle bakery; a member of the Woodmen of the World, and a large real estate owner. There were 34 business places, including seven barrooms on Front Street in Berwick, and he used to walk the beat and stop in every one of these business places and ask the owners if everything was OK. Everybody loved him. He was very charitable and helped out so many people.
I’ll never forget when he gave my father a brand new medicine chest to put in our bathroom. He said, “Mr. Joe, I want to give you this gift as a remembrance keepsake from me.”
Milton Wilson was not afraid of anything, but at the same time he was very accommodating. He was always ready to help people if he could. I’ll never forget the time when a man told him: “If you take off your badge, I’ll whip you hinie!” Milton, calmly took off his badge, and they went to fist city. The stranger won the fight; then the stranger said, “Now, I’m ready to go to jail!” And Milton and the stranger became the best of friends.
Now to tell you how much he was liked by everyone, I’m going to name a few people who were his pallbearers at his funeral: O.J. Bernaur, Jerald Francis, Laurie Toups, A.L. Boudreaux, Dr. Louis Bourgeois, Ed Miller, Mayor W.B. Roder, Mayor M.D. Shannon, Sheriff Charles Pecot, J.J. Hebert, Clarence Aycock, E.J. Champagne, J.L. Saunders, Louis Mahfouz, Bill Talbot and Henry Bayard.
Have you noticed how many drug stores are popping up in our area? I can understand, the way the cost of medicine is today. And, as far as hamburger eating places, they are building one at every corner. And it looks like every one of them has a turn to change prices. One day Hamburgers are $1, then the next day they are $3.
Here’s the story: The other day, I ordered a hamburger and the waiter said, “One dollar.” Fifteen minutes later when I was half way through eating my hamburger, the waiter came to me and said that I owed her two dollars more – the hamburger just changed prices. She also poured half of my coffee back into the pot. I paid 50 cents a cup; she said that now the coffee was $1 a cup. Well, I had a $2 tip on the table, so I reached out and took $1 back. So, that made my coffee free.
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