I had a phone call recently from Mrs. Leo Grizzaffi. Her name was Tina Rousso before she was married. She called to tell me how much she enjoyed my column “Recollection” in The Daily Review. She said she enjoyed the article that I wrote about her daddy’s sister, Mrs. Granada, who used to live in Berwick. They moved to Beaumont, Texas, in 1923. They had a large grocery-hard- ware- clothing store one block from my house on Pacific Street.
Mrs. Granada was my God-mother. She had three sons: Dr. Sam Granada, Dr. Joe Granada, and Tony Granada; and one daughter, Tina, who worked in the store with Tony.
Remember Jack Rousso who had a store on Federal Avenue in Morgan City near the old high school? To my recollection, Jack had a son, Father Anthony Rousso, who was a priest in Kenner and who is now deceased. My son, Dr. Bobby Guzzetta, was a close friend of Father Rousso. Jack had another son, Matthew Rousso, and a son now living in Morgan City, Santos Rousso; and a daughter, Tina Rousso Grizzaffi. Thanks, Tina, for calling. It makes me feel good for someone to call me that’s reading my column.
I was talking to a lady at the post office the other day and she told me that she had been married for 30 years and still could not cook. This information shocked me. I thought that all ladies knew how to cook!
I remember when my wife and I celebrated our Fifth Tin Anniversary. We ate out of tin cans for five years.
My wife cooked her first turkey shortly after we were married.
She left all the feathers on the turkey and baked it. There were about seven of us to eat that day. While everybody was eating, I noticed that they were laughing, but I couldn’t understand why. So I took a bite of the turkey and started laughing, too. Ironically, it was the tiny pin feathers on the turkey that tickled our throats.
Now, speaking of cooking, right now I am cooking a split-peas soup. That’s my favorite soup, plus lentil soup. I’ll never forget the first split pea soup my wife ever made. She bought two packs of frozen peas and she must have spent two hours trying to split the peas with a knife.
My experiences traveling with Mildred Boudreaux, owner of Ideal Rentals in Morgan City include; Mildred and my wife and I and Mildred’s brother, J.C. Thomas, went to Egypt together. You should have seen Mildred riding one of those camels – she thought she was Hoot Gibson. Another time in Barbados, we went out on the town one night. Mildred danced with all the natives there. You should have seen Mildred doing the “Mumbo-Jumbo.”
Also, another time when we were in Canada, a group of nine of us were in two cars. When night came, we had to have a place to sleep. We found a rooming house. Mildred talked to the landlady who told her that there was only one room available. Mildred said: “I’ll take it!” That night Mildred opened the door to the room and all nine of us went in. The landlady must have left town, because that night nobody could sleep – the walls were rattling with noise. We kept everybody in the rooming house awake.
Another time our plane was grounded on the desert in Aswan, Egypt. They took our pilot and told us not to step out of the plane. You know Mildred – she had to open the door of the plane to see what this problem was all about. When she opened the door a shot sounded, “BANG” was fired over our plane. It didn’t take Mildred long to jump back into the plane. When you travel with Mildred, there’s never a dull moment.
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