Our visit begins and right away, Judy’s name comes up.

“Judy was so little and she wore glasses from the time she was 3 years old. She never broke her little glasses and her daughter, Angela, has three little girls: Julia, Ashley and Morgan. Morgan has the little glasses. Judy and I shared the backyard with the chickens and I took care of her.”

Judy is Rose’s younger sister. Rose had just one sibling, 5 years younger than she is.
Judy died just a few weeks ago and that brings tears to Rose’s eyes. She tells me: “Why Judy who was so good. Why not take me instead”? Seems like dying was a punishment and Rose knows it doesn’t work that way.

Childhood memories soon come. The days in Pecanaire with , “Pop,” Napoleon “Nap” Badeaux and “Mom,” Leonie Rivette, who first lived as a married couple on the Joachim Badeaux Plantation, Pop’s family home. Rose works on her genealogy. Her grandparents were Joachim and Avia Rivette Badeaux and Rose and Judy were born there and lived there until Rose was 6. Her father bought a farm of his own then and cleared the land using bulldozers and tractors. He built their home. Rose knows that the plantation home has just recently been sold.

The neighborhood in the 1940s included Leola “Lo Lo” DeVillier, who became Mrs. Wivis Arnaud, the mother of Father Mike, Avia and Guy Arnaud. Lo Lo’s brother, Rocking Bill DeVillier was a colorful character or “party animal,” Rose says, giggling. This is the area near the former Pecanaire Elementary School and now the home of Judge Joe and Nettie Blanchard LaHaye. There was a grocery store near the school and down the road to the left was a white house. Edwin Myers built a brick house next door. Across the street from the grocery store were the farms of two brothers, Regis and Rose’s father, Nap Badeaux. The Happy Landing is in that area also. TeeTee Myers was a cowboy, Rose explains. His house is still there. There is a brick house next to it where one of TeeTee’s girls lives. On the right is Judge LaHaye’s home.

Rose says: “Pop was a good farmer. Next to the house was a large pasture with cows and pigs. He planted corn, cotton and sweet potatoes. In the first year of farming on his new property, Pop had favorable weather. From the sale of crops, calves, chickens, bantams and pigs, Pop made over $10,000. This paid for the land, equipment and even a truck. He always bought a red truck. In the late 80’s, I bought a red truck too!”

Rose continues: “Mom had a garden that was nearly an acre. She was the one who took care of the chickens and the bantams. We had Chinese Tallow trees, the chicken trees as we called them. The bantams loved the seeds from those trees and also roosted in them. Mom was an excellent cook. She could take an old shoe and make a wonderful dish out of it. Her pleasure was to sit and watch you eat, which you could do it you remembered to speak English. This is how she encouraged me to learn to speak English instead of my first language, French. We learned English from each other.

“God was important in our home. We attended Mass at St. Leo’s in Leonville every Sunday. I made my First Communion, my Confirmation and I married in the Catholic Church. I will always be Catholic.

“Mom had a heart attack one day when she was Christmas shopping with Judy. She was just a few racks away from Judy and Judy couldn’t see her and wondered where she was. Mom had fallen to the floor. She was taken to Opelousas General and lived a few days but her life really ended on that Christmas shopping trip.

“Pop’s main interest after Mom died was hunting and fishing. That lasted until in the end, he even gave up on that too.

“I have two sons: Chuckie and Chris. They both graduated from Alexandria High. When Chuckie was little, I would put him in the car seat, music on in the car and we would go to Pecanaire. I’d bring stew, soup or rice and gravy. Those were Pop’s favorites. I got him a microwave oven so he could heat his food. One day, I looked out in the backyard near his outdoor kitchen. He had a table full of pots out there. I asked him why the pots were outside? He had tried warming his food in pots in the microwave and ruined them all.

“Pop wasn’t feeling well and he coughed a lot. I packed his suitcase and took him to St. Luke’s Hospital in Arnaudville. The next day, Judy called to tell me that he had cancer. Five years after Mom died, Pop died.

“After I graduated from high school, I wanted to go to New Orleans to become an x-ray technician. Uncle Eugene Rivette got me the paperwork and Pop was willing to sign but Mom did not want me to go. She wanted me to stay close to home. I attended T.H. Harris School in Opelousas in the business department. Ms. Combs was one of my teachers. Over the years, I worked for Dan Rivette in Arnaudville and Judge Robert DeJean in Opelousas as a legal secretary.

“I met my husband and the father of my two sons at the Southern Club in Opelousas. Earl and I were married for 40 years. At the beginning, life was good. I worked while Earl attended college and became a CPA. When I had the boys, I would take time away from work but after they got older and in school, I would return to work. I worked for Andrus Insurance for 2 or 3 years and then worked for Jim Farley and Trinity Universal Insurance.

After I retired, it became apparent that I needed something to do. I completed two years of college in general business. I also formed an insurance agency of my own. I worked out of my home. I would go out and drum up business and then come home to do the paperwork. In time, I had to get a secretary to assist me with the workload.

“Earl accepted a job as a CPA for Sears in Dallas. We moved there and then Sears transferred Earl to Alexandria. At one point, Earl interviewed with Roy O. Martin Lumber Company. The phone rang one day and Chuckie answered. He asked: ‘Are you going to hire my Dad’? Earl did get that job and for years, we credited Chuckie for getting his Dad a job.

“After 40 years, Earl and I divorced. I know I kept the marriage together because I felt the boys should have a father to help raise them. Divorce is a very difficult time and I was sad because I wanted my boys to have a Dad to do things with them. Earl did not see it that way.

“After my divorce, I worked for Cabrini Hospital but when they downsized, I was the first to go. Last one hired, first one fired. So, I wanted to see the country. I went to Florida, Kentucky, New York, the eastern states. Traveling got old because I traveled alone. I filled my hours with work on my genealogy. I used the library in Alexandria and got it done.

“I also developed an interest in crocheting. I want to do more of that here at J. Michael’s.

“I developed arthritis and scoliosis and started falling. I had to use a walker and take lots of medication. I tried Home Health and physical therapy; but, the exercises were not sufficient. Chris was afraid that I would fall and I couldn’t get up. I would stay on the floor until I could call 911 and get help. So a year and a half ago, I came to live at J. Michael Morrow Nursing Home.

“My son Chuck is a CPA and lives in Houston. He travels a lot. Chris lives in Lafayette so he is able to visit more than Chuck. Chris is a very talented artist. He welds designs in metals. We had encouraged him to go to college but, he chose music instead. Now, 20 years later, he has decided to finish college.

“One of my relatives, Priscilla, comes to visit and that is great because I do get despondent. During the first 6 months here, I developed double pneumonia. I was in the hospital for a month and in ICU for 3 weeks. Priscilla came to check on me almost every day and my sons came. Now, when Priscilla comes, she often brings me a chef’s salad from Winn Dixie in Breaux Bridge. That is the best meal! And, I do love a good cold Coke! When they bury me, I want them to put a Coke in the casket for the road.

“My favorite food, if I could have it, is a good steak, a filet cooked medium, with a baked potato and salad. For dessert, I would like chocolate cake with ground pecan filling.

“I have an aunt here in the nursing home. Her name is Mary and I go and visit her almost every day. It is good exercise for me and good to visit with her.

“This was one of the ‘fortunate’ weeks that happen at J. Michael Morrow Nursing Home. I was privileged to have two visitors, young ladies from France, here at J. Michael Morrow. The one called Marie came to visit me and to bring me a little packet with a tooth brush, tooth paste, a comb, like the hotel packets. I could understand her very well. Her French is not Parisian. Marie and Morgane live in a region away from the big cities and so their French is more like ours and we communicated very well.

One other activity that was most enjoyable was a game of UNO. Some of the residents who played with me were Lucille, Mathilde, Helen, Heda, and Neva. The game quickly turned into French and fun and friendship. This combination made our lives much easier.

“The best thing about this nursing home is that it is so clean. I am usually first in the morning to take my bath and my pajamas are washed and returned to my room before the morning is up. The other thing that I like is that if I have a problem, someone comes to talk with me and they try to solve my problem. I enjoy having my meals in my room. I have a routine of watching the news, visiting my aunt and just sitting comfortably in my chair. I do miss my freedom and I get lonely if no one comes to visit. If I could get out, I would love to take a ride to a store, go to Mass at St. Leo’s in Leonville and visit Judy’s grave.”

So, Rose’s story starts and ends with her sister, Judy. I am so happy to have come and visited with Rose. She is always willing to help when Mavis Frugé comes for her program called Allons Parler Francais, Rose is her secretary. The Nonco Foundation, of which I am a part, holds an Apostleship of Prayer meeting the first Thursday of every month, Rose serves as secretary for that group too.

Thank you, Rose, for all that you are and all that you do.