Author: Van

The new kids on the block circa 1965.

I didn’t really have an idea for a blog tonight.  No wonderful discoveries lately and no tragic story to tell.  So I just looked through my photos to see what would catch my eye.  And this one grabbed my attention and wouldn’t let go!  Maybe because I just felt a little lazy and I comfort myself by saying that at least I’m writing something.  We wouldn’t want my seven-year streak to end, now would we?

But really, look how cute we all looked in this photo.  Too bad a large portion of the photo is missing.  I’m not exactly sure how that happened or when.  I’m thinking that it happened when the photo was first taken.  It was one of those Polaroids where you had to peal the backing off of the photo after you shook it a while.  “Shake it like a Polaroid picture!”  I just know that you were supposed to wait a predetermined amount of time before pealing the backing off.  

Obviously that didn’t stop my dad from enjoying the photo then, nor me from admiring it now.  The photo is still around and now everyone gets to see it!  I mention Lucy Street because I think this was not too long after we moved to 758 Lucy Street in Jennings proper.  We had lived just north of the I-10 in Jennings for about two years.  It was a house that we rented.  So when it was time to buy a house, we looked at a few places. (I presume.  I don’t remember that part.)  My mom always said that at that point they asked us kids which house we wanted, and we replied, “The yellow house on Lucy Street” with enthusiasm.  So Lucy Street it was.  We moved there in the fall of 1964.

We were the biggest family on the block.  We didn’t have any competition from across the street.  It was just a large open field with a gully along the back of it.  The neighbors to the east of us were the Theunissen brothers.  I think there were three of them.  They couldn’t have been much older than us, because their mom was a classmate of my mom’s at Hathaway High School.  To the west were the Hotard brothers.  There were four of them and the oldest was my age.  Their dad was the principal of Northside Junior High School where my dad was starting his new teaching position.  So he moved in next door to his boss.  I’ve never really thought of it that way before.  Past the Hotards were the Minter sisters.  Two of them were the same ages as my older siblings, but one of them was closer to the age of my younger sister.  She would call on the phone with a, “May I please speak to Jamie, please?”

There were a few more households on the block, but not many more kids.  The Theunissens and Minters moved away after a few years and were replaced by the Bordelons and Daniels.  Our family remained the largest one on the block.  Yet we all fit on the sofa for this wonderful photo.  We are seated unusually.  The oldest two are on each end, with the middle two in the middle.  The youngest two are each seated between their older siblings of the same sex.  I will make this like a word game.  I’ve given you those clues, and now for the final clue.  Our names in the order of oldest to youngest are Jodie, Rob, Karen, Al, Van, and Jamie.  Our last name was Landry and our parents’ names were Bob Landry and Betty Bucklin Landry.  That last sentence wasn’t a clue.  It was just a fact.

Any questions?

I can’t believe I have never posted a photo of my dad in his Air Force uniform on this blog.  I’ve posted several photos of his dad (my paternal grandfather) from World War I.  One of my earliest photos is a photo of my great great grandfather Trasimond Landry in his Civil War uniform.  And there is not just this one professional-looking portrait of Daddy in his uniform, there are two.  For the longest time I thought there was just one.  I would see one or the other and didn’t pay close attention to the details.  But they are obviously different.  You’ll have to take my word for it.  I’m only going to post one of them.  I’ve got to parcel out these good photos to make them last.  I’m glad you understand.

Robert Joseph “Bob” Landry, Jr. joined the Air Force in 1952.

So how do you like it?  It really is a nice photo, and everyone loves a man in uniform.  Or so I’ve heard.  This is my dad, Robert Joseph “Bob” Landry, Jr. when he was in the Air Force.  He joined in 1952 and I think this photo was taken that year or maybe the next.

My dad was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, on January 31, 1929, to Robert Joseph “Rob” Landry, Sr. and Germaine Erie Patureau Landry.  He was the fifth child (like me) and third son (like me) out of eight children.  I don’t know when his interest in music started, but I’m sure it was very early.  The earliest story I know about his musical interest was from when he was in high school.

He went to Landry Memorial High School in Lake Charles, and it was there that he started playing a musical instrument in his freshman year.  His instrument of choice was the baritone.  His interest grew and he would learn how to play various other instruments during summer vacations.  I did the same thing when I started playing the trombone in junior high school.  But I don’t remember him telling me that he had done the same thing.  The reason I know it is that there was a newspaper article from 1963 that gives that information.  Either he didn’t tell me about it, or I didn’t listen very well.  They both sound like a plausible explanation.

During my dad’s high school career, his interest continued to grow.  So when there was no band director available at Landry Memorial during wartime, my dad took over as the leader of the band.  He liked music and he liked to teach and tell people what to do, so it was a good fit.  After graduating high school, he decided to follow this passion of his.  He majored in music at McNeese Junior College, Southwestern Louisiana Institute, and at LSU.  When McNeese became a four-year school, he returned there to graduate in the first graduating class of 1952.  He had met Betty Lou Bucklin in 1951 at a Solo and Ensemble Festival at LSU and was impressed with her baritone playing.  She was at McNeese when he returned, and it was then that they fell in love and became engaged.

“So, why,” my brother Rob asked, “did he go into the military at that point?”  He didn’t like people telling him what to do.  He was picky about the foods he would eat.  And he was engaged and ready to start a career.  I didn’t know the answer, but my dad’s younger brother Johnny probably would.  So Rob looked into it last week when he came down for a high school reunion.  He took time to go visit Uncle Johnny in Lake Charles and he got an answer.  It would seem that at the time, the draft was in force.  If he hadn’t joined on his own, he would have been drafted into the Army.  The Army?  That sounds like a place where you might have to get your hands dirty!  And that was another thing Bob Landry didn’t like.

So off he went and joined the Air Force so he could be part of the Air Force Band.  It was a much better fit for him.  He went to basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, in the summer of 1952.  While he was there, he made high scores in math and marksmanship.  When he came home for a few days in the fall, he married Betty Lou on November 1 at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Lake Charles.  They made their first home at Edwards Air Force Base in California, where he was a member of the 503rd Air Force Band.  They became parents with the birth of Jodie in California, and after two years there, they moved on to Albuquerque, New Mexico.  He was a member of the 572nd Air Force Band and they had Rob in Albuquerque.

In 1956, his time with the service came to an end and the family moved back to Lake Charles.  His military time was over, but his music career and family had just begun.

Alcide, Marguerite, Sebastien, and Marie Therese Landry all lived in Brusly, Louisiana, at some point in their lives.

I don’t normally group photos together like this.  And I wouldn’t have necessarily grouped these four photos together.  But this photo grouping is part of an announcement for a special event coming up.  On July 23 there will be a West Baton Rouge Acadian Heritage Celebration in Brusly, Louisiana, and the special family name featured this year is Landry.  So when one of the organizers asked me if they could use some of my photos, I answered in the affirmative.  Why wouldn’t I want to honor some of my own Landry ancestors for the celebration?  But they are just representing the many Landry families in Brusly from back when.

And actually, one of these is not my ancestor.  That would be the handsome guy with the bow tie.  His name was Sebastien Landry.  He was an older brother of my paternal grandfather Robert Joseph Landry, Jr.  Even though Uncle Seb (That’s what my dad and his siblings called him.  It rhymes with dweeb.) was 19 years older than Rob (or Pee Paw to us grandchildren), they were very close.  Seb married his first cousin Manette Landry and they had a daughter, also named Manette.  Older Manette died shortly after giving birth, and little Manette was raised like a little sister to Rob.  The families have been close ever since that time.  When I think of my grandfather, I don’t think of him from Brusly.  That’s because he was born in Westlake, Louisiana.  So it is more appropriate for Sebastien to be in the group photo because he was born in Brusly before the family moved west.

My great grandfather (father to Rob and Seb) is the man on the left in the group photo.  He was born in Brusly in 1845.  When he was old enough, he fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War.  After the war, he married Marie Celeste Leveque.  Grandma Celeste was born in Brusly in 1847 to Joseph Auguste Leveque and Marie Marguerite “Basalite” Landry Leveque.  Basalite is the woman between the two men in the photo.  She was born in 1821 to Joseph Emmanuel “Manuel” Landry and Clarice Celeste Bruneteau Landry.  Basalite and Alcide were half first cousins.  That’s because Alcide’s father Narcisse was the half-brother of Manuel Landry.  That would make Alcide and his wife Celeste half first cousins once removed.  In case you haven’t heard this before, all four of my dad’s grandparents were related to each other through the Landry family.

The last one in the photo is Marie Therese Landry.  She was my great grandmother.  She was the mother of Germaine Erie Patureau Landry.  My siblings, cousins, and I knew her as Mee Maw.  She was the best and I think I was her favorite!  Marie Therese was the older sibling of Manette Landry that I mentioned earlier.  She was married to her cousin Seb.  So Marie Therese’s daughter and sister were married to the brothers Rob and Seb respectively.  (Her half-sister Clemence Babin was married to Rob and Seb’s brother Louis Landry.)  Marie Therese was the oldest child of Trasimond Landry, the brother of Alcide Landry.

Marie Emma Landry Patureau is the matriarch of all of the Patureau family in southern Louisiana. Photo circa 1864.

But there was another Landry cousin caught up in this family web, and I didn’t want to leave her out of this discussion.  That would be Marie Emma Landry and she was my great great grandmother.  She was born in 1829 in St. Gabriel, Louisiana, to Onezime Landry and Zerbine Dupuy.  The family moved to Brusly shortly after she was born.  I guess they wanted to be around other family members.  Onezime was the brother of Narcisse and the half-brother of Manuel.  They are the three sons of Joseph Ignatius Landry that I descend from.

Marie Emma spent her formative years in Brusly.  When she was a teenager, she met French immigrant Ferdinand Patureau.  The Patureau family had immigrated to Louisiana in 1840 and settled in the Plaquemine area.  Ferdinand was only 14 years old at the time, but that didn’t stop him from returning to France on his own without anyone in the family knowing where he was.  He even spent a bit of time in Cuba working on a sugar plantation.  He finally made it back to Louisiana in 1843 or so.  So Emma met him some time between then and their February 10, 1847, wedding.  Ferdinand was 20 years old and Emma was only 17.  Their first few children were born in Brusly, but they eventually settled in Plaquemine.  She gave birth to at least fifteen children.

So there you have it – most of my Landry family who lived in Brusly, Louisiana.  I suppose that I should mention that Trasimond’s wife Marie Amelie “Belite” Bujol was the daughter of Anna Adele Landry.  Adele was the sister of  Basalite Landry Leveque.  There, now they are all covered and it’s as clear as can be.  If you are part of this family or have your own connection to a Landry family (or any Acadian family), be sure to attend the Celebration on the 23rd.  I’m planning on being there.  Maybe we can figure out how we’re related!

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.

Al, Van, Jodie, Jamie, Karen, and Rob Landry at Sam Houston Park north of Lake Charles, Louisiana, on July 26, 1967.

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.