Elia Roy was born near Washington, Louisiana in 1929. At 86, she was sitting in her usual spot and looking pretty all dressed up in blue. When I complimented her that she was “pretty in blue,” she told me about her shopping habit. When she found something she liked, she bought the item in every color she could. She had bought the slacks in four colors and made the blue eyelet blouse. Now, still enjoying the comfort and look of those slacks, she wishes she had bought a yard and a half of fabric in all the slack colors and taken the time to sew the blouses to match. Such is life. We do have regrets about the things we did not do.

I asked Elia if I could take her picture and then I showed her the picture on my phone. She was pleased and said it is her favorite picture ever.

There are many talented women who could sew. Elia’s sewing is probably what got her to work for Fruit of the Loom in St. Martinville. Her life has been filled with little adventures.

After spending almost seven years in Washington, Elia’s parents moved the family to Leonville. Her father was Ethienne “Pat” Courville, first cousin to A.B. Courville, owner of the Toyoto dealership in Opelousas. Elia’s mother was Francis Janise, “like the Janise family who has the grocery store in Sunset,” Elia tells me.

Elia remembers a girl at school who wore just one shoe. It seems she had a hole in her sock which caused a blister on her heel. With French as my first language, I have no problem understanding this story. Elia said when she asked the little girl why she wore just one shoe, the child answered: “My shoe blessed me.” “ Blessure ” is the French word for “blister.”

At 18, Elia left home to work for the Greyhound Bus Station in Opelousas. So, she was a career woman and I am not surprised. I could tell she was an independent woman. When I asked about her husband, Elia tells me she met her husband through a neighbor who was in the military and stationed in Korea with Alton Roy. Alton spent 18 months in Korea in the service of his country. He was a native of Arnaudville and a son of Clebert Roy and grandchild of Ozema Roy. I know about Ozema Roy because he was a relative of my husband, Brod Roy. Ozema Roy was the person killed in a duel with Wade Higginbotham on Christmas night 1909. The story can be found in Herman J. Robert’s book History of St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Department , page 89.

“A Bloody Fight. On Christmas night between Ozema Roy owner of the saloon (The Buckhorn Bar) and Wade Higginbotham, a deputy sheriff from St. Landry – Both were dead. Eleven shots were fired Roy 5 and Higginbotham six. Isaac Thibodeaux and Homer Hardy were arrested and thought to be instigators.”

Alton’s mother was Eunice Stelly. All of this history was before Elia’s time.

When Elia’s soldier neighbor came on leave, she got Alton’s address and started writing to him. When Alton returned from Korea, he was stationed in Fort Polk and stayed there until his discharge. On Easter Sunday, April 5, 1953, in Leonville, Louisiana, Alton married Elia. They had two children, a daughter, “Elaine” who married Gilbert Bazar, and a boy “Ted” who became the police chief in Leonville. His wife's name is Betty.

Alton was a dragline operator for a contractor. When the contractor’s job ended, work also ended for Alton. They moved near his parent’s farm in Godeaux, an area near Lebeau, in St. Landry Parish. Alton joined his father on the farm until he could find another job. With two children ages 6 and 4, he had to work.

Elia tells about Alton’s brother who they knew worked in a sawmill and believed might be working in Darrington, Washington, O’Brien, Oregon or Crescent City, California. They wrote three letters addressed to Alton’s brother in all three towns asking if there was work for Alton in the sawmill. They got a response from Crescent City, California, saying: “Come on down.” Alton drove to California first. Traveling by bus, Elia and the two children followed later.

While living in California, Alton and Elia owned a Jeep which they used to travel up the mountains. Alton hunted bears and his dog had not come out of the forest. They left the children with friends and drove to the mountains to see if they could find their dog. The roads were very narrow then and you had to cross logging trucks. “I learned to drive the Jeep and when we saw a logging truck coming towards us, I would get in the passenger seat and Alton would drive passed the truck and then I took the wheel again. When Alton left for work, he would say: ‘You can practice your driving but stay out of the ditch and the house!’

“There was a trail behind our house that went to a grocery store. The grass was tall and I would practice driving that trail. But, Alton had to turn the Jeep around because I didn’t know how to do that yet. At first the children were afraid to ride with me.”

Alton and Elia spent 13 years in California and enjoyed living there. Elia worked six year in a seafood cannery. She did master driving, got her driver’s license and bought a new El Camino. She also enjoyed working in a restaurant where she was the dishwasher operator. She did not have to wash the dishes by hand. She loaded and unloaded the dishwasher.

It never got very cold in Crescent City but it was damp and windy because they were only about a quarter mile from the ocean. On Sundays, the family took the truck to the beach for some fun times. They were about 80 miles from Eureka, California. When the 37th President, Richard Milhous Nixon, who served from 1969 to 1974, ended all tree cutting, Alton was looking for work again.

Alton and his daughter, Elaine, loaded up his truck and drove back to south Louisiana where he bought the family a home. Elaine went to work in the Advertising Department of the Daily World in Opelousas. Ted had to complete two months of school before Easter break when he and his mother could drive back to Louisiana.

Elia remembers the drive very well. She said she sweated during that trip. *The Interstate Highway was under construction at the time. Elia remembers there were lots of detours. Her car was loaded with all the possessions that would fit. She made the trip in two and a half days. She did not drive at night. She and Ted found a place to sleep where they felt safe; but, by 5 a.m., they were on the road heading home. After a night of rest and breakfast in Tucson, Arizona, they headed for New Mexico but did not come to a place where they felt safe enough. They drove all day without eating until they reached San Antonio, Texas. In San Antonio, they ate and placed a call to Elia’s sister in Houston to tell her they were headed in her direction. When they woke up, they got on the road headed for Houston. In Houston, they had dinner and slept at a place right off the highway so that they could get on the road again in the early morning; but, they did get to visit with her sister who came to see them.

After settling back home, Elia went to work in St. Martinville for Fruit of the Loom. It was 33 miles one way and Elia worked there for 15 years and then retired at age 58. At that time, she had a grandson who needed tutoring. Elia felt it was more important to help her grandson than to continue earning a paycheck.

Elia has been at J. Michael Morrow Nursing Home five years – “since February 3, 2011,” she says right away. Of course, Elia loves her family. Elaine and Gil have a daughter, Jenny LeDoux who is a probation officer for the DA. Her grandson, Jason, is Ted and Betty’s son. He is coming to visit Elia and I can tell how important that is to her. She is sorry that he is disabled and unable to work. She remembers that he worked for Walmart and that he was a good worker.

Her granddaughter Jill is married to Eric Lastrapes. They were high school sweethearts and Jill works at ULL as a counselor.

I enjoy Elia and see her almost every time I visit the nursing home. She has a favorite chair where she sits and chats with other residents and visitors. She is an interesting lady and has lived a courageous life. There are many more stories for her to tell.

I again feel grateful to Elia and to Nonco, Auguste Pelafigue, the old man who walked the streets of Arnaudville delivering the leaflets of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He is my inspiration for visiting the residents at J. Michael Morrow Nursing Home. I feel so blessed to be doing this volunteer work because I meet some incredible people every time I go. They have become my loving friends. Thank you, Nonco.

*Interstate 10 - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Length: 2,460.34 miles - Existed: 1957 – present - Major junctions - West end: SR 1 in Santa Monica, CA - I‑5 in Los Angeles, CA -

I‑15 in Ontario, CA - I‑25 in Las Cruces, NM - I‑20 at Scroggins Draw, TX - I‑35 in San Antonio, TX - I‑45 in Houston, TX - I‑55 in LaPlace, LA - I‑65 in Mobile, AL I‑75 near Lake City, FL - East end: I‑95 in Jacksonville, FL .

States: California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida

Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost major interstate highway in the American Interstate Highway System. It stretches from the Pacific Ocean at State Route 1 (SR 1) (Pacific Coast Highway) in Santa Monica, California, to I-95 in Jacksonville, Florida. This freeway is part of the originally planned Interstate Highway network that was laid out in 1956, and its last section was completed in 1990. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate Highway in the United States, following I-90, I-80, and I-40. About one-third of its length is within the state of Texas, where the freeway spans the state at its widest breadth.