The Landry Family at Sam Houston Park in 1967

It was really hot today.  As it usually is in southern Louisiana in the summer.  I’m glad that I live in the time when air conditioning is available.  I don’t know how those people did it.  Our family didn’t have air conditioning until I was in the fifth grade.  That means I endured about ten years without air conditioning in our house.  I remember sleeping with my head in the window so I could feel the ‘cool’ breeze drawn in by the attic fan.  We also had a box fan to blow on us, so we had it made.  Like I said, I’m glad for air conditioning.

So when I was thinking about what to write about, I thought it should be about something warm.  And this is the photo that popped into my head.  It’s a photo of my siblings and me on a warm day in 1967.  How do I know that it was a warm day?  The date of the photo is July 26th and the sun is shining.  That’s pretty much of a guarantee that it was a warm day.

The place is Sam Houston Park, which is north of Lake Charles, Louisiana.  We lived in Jennings at the time, which is not that far away.  I suppose it was a day trip to go see the cypress trees and waterways.  When I looked up information on the park, it says that the place is now called Sam Houston Jones State Park.  It used to be named for Sam Houston.  I’m not sure when the name change happened, so I don’t know what it was actually name in 1967.  I just remember the Sam Houston part.

It’s a good thing the photo was labeled, because I would have thought this was a photo of when we went to Kisatchie National Forest.  That’s a bit further north in Louisiana, but I know we would go there from time to time.  But really, the place is not nearly as important as the people in the photo.  That would be the children of Bob and Betty Landry.  My dad was Robert Joseph Landry, Jr. and my mom was Betty Lou Bucklin Landry.  They were with us on all of our outings, but neither one of them is in the photo.  On the left in the white sleeveless shirt with red stripes (the red is from my memory) is my older brother Al.  He had turned eight years old just two days earlier.  I (Van) am the six-year-old boy sitting on the cypress knee/stump.  I still like wearing shirts like this when it’s warm.  Especially when I’m playing tennis.  I need some with a V-neck like this.  V is for Van, after all.

My oldest and youngest sisters are sitting on the ground in the middle of the photo.  Jodie is on the left.  What is she doing wearing a long-sleeved shirt?!  At least it’s white.  She was thirteen years old and it was the summer before she started high school.  The Landry kids were growing up!  I was going to be starting first grade and Jamie was going to be in kindergarten.  Why did she go to kindergarten when I never did?  Not everyone did back then.  You may have figured that Jamie is the youngest one sitting down to the right of Jodie.  She was the smallest.  

I don’t know what’s happening with Karen and Rob.  It looks like they have matching poses.  It does balance the photo, wouldn’t you say?  The other subjects of the photo can’t be ignored.  Look at the flock of birds clamoring for a taste of watermelon rind.  I can just imagine the squawking going on.  Can you?  Memories of a summer long ago.