I was cruising along on Second Street in Berwick and all of a sudden I saw Charlie Savoie on a tall stepladder, painting his house. He has a lovely home that was originally the home of Mr. & Mrs. Weaton Bowman. It is built of solid cypress and is certainly a home to be proud of in many ways.
I stopped my car and Charlie got down off the ladder and chatted for about 20 minutes with me. Charlie said that he loved retirement, but that’s when everything you do is free labor. I said, “Charlie, you are so right, but keep painting a little every day and you will finally get your house painted.”
I remember when I painted my house. I started from the back, painting toward the front. By the time I got to the front, the back needed painting again. So you see, you can never finish what you start!
To keep a rooster from crowing on Monday morning – eat him for dinner on Sunday.
Charlene Landry, cashier at Cannata’s, gave me a photograph of two ladies who lived in Berwick in the early 1920s. They were two sisters and their names were Dimple and Chick Boudreaux. Last I heard, Chick was living in Metaireie. I plan to call her. I know she will love to hear something about Berwick. They were both beautiful girls.
At the Church Hall in Berwick, which serves as our funeral home, I was sitting on the back row when some of my old buddies come and sat with me. Right away we started talking about the “good old days.” There were Louis Tamporello, Donald Robicheaux, Denny Blance, Clarence Duplantis, Pee Wee Duplantis and Jimmy Manuel. I happened to glance in the back of us, and who was sitting there but Joe Hargrave! It looked like he was looking at Pee Wee Duplantis, who seemed to be the oldest in our group. So, Joe was certainly looking in the right direction.
Fanny Vidos called me to tell me how much she enjoys my writings in The Daily Review. She says she really misses writing “Facts and Fancies,” the name of her column that she wrote for The Review for so many good years. But she said that in writing the column, this gave her an opportunity to meet and talk to so many people; and she misses the communications she had with so many throughout the area. I know what she means because there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t get at least 10 or 15 phone calls telling me about my articles. It keeps you in touch with everybody. Everywhere I go, people tell me how much they enjoy my column. They even call me Hemingway, or Jonathan Swift, or even Steve Shirley.
My wife and I attended the 20th anniversary of the Berwick Knights of Columbus. it was really nice. Elmer Galloway did a beautiful job in introducing the oldest members and the members who had done so much for the Berwick Knights of Columbus. Elmer said something nice about each member who received a plaque. And he also had red in his eyes, with sorrow, as he expressed condolences and memories of those members who had passed away.
After all the ceremonies and talks, someone yelled: “It’s time to eat – ladies first.” Well, for a moment when they said “ladies first,” I thought I was on the Titanic. The food was delicious – done by our cook, Onsteen Richard and others. I enjoyed myself tremendously and am looking forward to our 50th anniversary in the year 2048.
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