J. Michael Morrow Memorial Nursing Home
Arnaudville, Louisiana


Blog Post

The Chalice

J.M. Morrow Nursing Home • Jan 28, 2016

Jim and Iola Tauzin, the Barber and the Hairdresser

As you make your way around the nursing home, many of the residents will tell you about the great activities that take place and how important those activities are. They all say how activities make “the time fly” and they praise Mary and Andrea, the Activities Coordinators.

I appreciate Mary and Andrea, too, because they are very helpful to me in my volunteer activities there. When I visit the nursing home, I make my way to their office off the dining room and I seek approval for my plans of that day. A few days ago Mary recounted a story about the chalice from the Nursing Home Chapel. She said that she had decided to polish the chalice and the name inscribed on it was Mr. and Mrs. Jim Tauzin. She wondered if Jim and Iola Tauzin, residents of the nursing home, would know who that was? And, indeed, they did. Mary asked me to visit with them and to ask about the chalice.

I made my way down the halls, greeting friends and getting hugs. I love my friends!

I knock on the Tauzins’ door and was immediately welcomed. Jim and Iola don’t know me but they remember my mother and they know my sister Mavis, my passport!

The opportunity to visit with Jim and Iola was fun! Iola is the storyteller and Jim is the jokester. They have been married for 67 years and Jim says: “She stole me. I was a baby and she just stole me away.” The truth of the matter is: They are both 86 years old and Jim is one month older than his wife.

They are eager to tell their story of service to others. Jim was a barber in Lafayette for more years than he wants to remember. Iola was a hairdresser for 42 years. She even taught her trade at the beauty school in Lafayette for 12 years. They have three daughters: Bernelle Miller, Cayla Trahan and Carla Tauzin. They have five grandchildren: Mark, Michael, Ashley, Brandon and Lane. At Christmastime, they had 9 people visit them in their room before they were driven to Lloyd and Cayla Trahan’s home for a visit. All too soon, Iola said she wanted to come back to her room. She says that Lloyd and Cayla had their family coming and she wanted them to enjoy their day together.

I told them that I can imagine that as a hairdresser and a barber they had visited with many and that they treasured their quiet time. Iola adds that she also had to cook and that when her girls were young, she loved to sew for them. She was a busy lady.

When I ask about the chalice, Iola told me that when Saint John Francis Regis Church was dedicated, Monsignor Daniel Bernard asked for donations for a chalice for the visiting priests. Jim and Iola Tauzin answered the call. Years went by. The Tauzins moved to Lafayette and they often wondered about that chalice. Once, they even made a call to Saint Francis Regis Church but the pastor at the time did not know anything about it.

Now, we know the rest of the story. The Nursing Home Chapel Chalice is the very one that the Tauzins had donated! No one knows how it came to be at the nursing home.

Iola is an unusual name, in this part of the world anyway. I don’t know anyone else by that name. I asked about it and Iola tells me that her mother’s brother went to the Normal School in Natchitoches. He met a girl there that he liked and her name was “Iola.” He asked his sister to call her baby by that name. Later, he was ill with typhoid fever and died of the illness.

Iola was the only child of Therese Moran and Joseph Moran. Yes, her parents were both Morans. Iola says, she is a pure Moran. When Iola married Jim, her father provided a house for them. They lived in that one home until they moved to Lafayette in 1960 to be closer to Jim’s work.

Jim is the son of Despaliere “Paliere” Tauzin and Edith Kidder. Anicet Tauzin, father of J.C. “Nin” Tauzin and Florina Tauzin Martin (also a resident at the nursing home) was a first cousin of Jim’s father. I tell Jim and Iola that I remember a “Raymond Tauzin.” Jim jokingly tells me: “Raymond, I don’t know him.” Iola admonishes him and tells me that Raymond is his brother.

Iola tells of their travels with Florina and Nookie Martin, Vernice Tauzin Stelly and Annie Tauzin Stoute and how much fun they had on motor home and van trips. Sometimes, Verne and Annie stayed in the van and Iola and Florina took in the sights and did some shopping. Iola says she preferred traveling by car and she and Jim have traveled all of the states except some along the east coast. They even visited some of the Canadian Provinces. Iola served as the tour director, making itineraries and reservations.

For now, Jim and Iola enjoy quiet days. She says that they spent so many hours on their legs that now, they are content to lay in their beds and rest.

It has been fun and Jim has kept me laughing. I share Apostleship of Prayer leaflets and, of course, they remember Nonco and how he walked the streets of Arnaudville delivering his leaflets to everyone he met.

Around Our Home Away From Home, Our Stories

By J.M. Morrow Nursing Home 26 May, 2021
George Frugé was sitting peacefully in the dining room with his brown jacket on a hanger in anticipation of an outdoor visit. Too bad it was bitterly cold and the nurse in change of visitation, “Mary,” assigned George to an indoor booth instead. George moves fast. He does not look or act like a man of 93 years. Mary Aileen Kidder, one of George’s fellow residents at J. Michael Morrow Nursing Home said: “George is physical mobile and mentally sharp.” The nurse returned to the indoor booth over an hour later to tell that our visitation time had expired. George and I had had a lovely conversation, almost all in French. George remembers family details. His father was Christopher Frugé and his mother was Ida Lalonde. Christopher Frugé who was born August 10, 1905, the son of Henry Joseph Frugé and Adeline Thibodeaux. Christopher’s brothers, and George’s uncles were Willis “Bill” who married Olivia Bellard; Columbus “Boy” who married Louisia Noel; Albert who married Elvina Dupuis, and there were two other brothers, August and Wilbert who died in early childhood. George’s father’s sisters were: Isabelle, Mrs. Clophas Comeaux; Maria Rachel, Mrs. Frank Guidroz; and Ella, Mrs. Franklin Randolph Wright. Henry Joseph Frugé married a second wife, Nadia “Da” Perriou. They had two children: Joseph Henry who married Lorena Savoie and James Earl who married Mavis Olivier. Born on August 24, 1927, in Arnaudville, George lived his whole life in the area, except when he was working on dredge boats. He had four brothers: Lee Roy, Ludovic, John “Pete” and Milton “Bob.” George attended school in the school house on Highway 31 near Myran’s restaurant. He remembers there was a “little” graduation after the sixth grade. He also attended school in Chicago and became a Chief Port Engineer. During his long career working on dredge boats, he traveled the world over. And, he proudly proclaims he “knows machines.” One day, George drove down Highway 31 to visit with his mother who was caring for his grandmother. On the way, he stopped at “Faquin’s,” a little country store. There he met a girl from Arnaudville named Ethel Mae Bergeron. He told his mother that day that he had met the girl he would marry and he did. Ethel graduated from Leonville High School. She and George had three sons: Terry, Kenneth and Neal; and two daughters: Kathie and Tammie. They have nine grandchildren: Kristie, Brad, Hollie, Gerrod, Chad, Jeremy, Lydia, Brittany and McKenzie. They have ten great grandchildren: Joshua, Kolten, Blaire, Lesley, Dustin, Addison, Braylon, Gabrielle, Brayden and Noah. George and Ethel spent their time surrounded by a great family and many wonderful friends. The Catholic couple attended St. Leo Church in Leonville where George volunteered in service of his fellow parishioners. George remembers a homelife of nice quiet evenings watching TV. He and Ethel also enjoyed gardening. He liked to plant tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, bell pepper, hot peppers, watermelon, merleton and crowder peas. Probably in the 1940’s, before television, many of the towns in the area had baseball or softball teams. There was the Nina Red Birds, Arnaudville Blue Jays, New Iberia Rebels and Cecilia Merchants, just to name a few. The large Richard family from Arnaudville had a softball team and George played on the Richard team. He explained that some teams played hardball or baseball. Dr. Robert L. “Bobby” Morrow, the Arnaudville doctor, was the pitcher of the baseball team. George played softball as the second baseman for the Richard Brothers Softball Team. Some of the Richards were Antoine, Louis, June, Francis, Lawrence and Carroll. Raymond Bergeron, Ethel's brother, also played with the team. The softball games were held on the Leroy Darby Field near Last Street in Arnaudville. Leonville also had a softball time. Some Team members George remembers were Leroy Carriere, Hoppy Morris and Alex Richard. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softball )
By J.M. Morrow Nursing Home 05 Mar, 2021
Aileen Kidder is now a resident at J. M. Morrow Memorial Nursing Home in Arnaudville. In true Aileen fashion, she is making the most out of this stage of her life and serving as example to all.
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By J.M. Morrow Nursing Home 11 Oct, 2019
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