Stephensville park named for Larry Doiron

A Friday morning ceremony dedicated a Stephensville park to a man who made his mark as a developer, a public official and a contributor to one of the biggest ideas to emerge from the area since offshore oil.

Local residents and St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars were among those who gathered Friday, when a St. Martin Recreation District No. 1 park was named for the late Larry Doiron.

Doiron died May 18, 2021, at age 92. The day before the dedication would have been his 94th birthday.

Doiron had roots throughout east St. Mary and lower St. Martin.

Raised in Patterson, he worked as a teenager in stores in Patterson and Berwick and learned the plumbing trade.

He formed his own company, Doiron Plumbing Inc., in 1947. The company later became Doiron Construction & Development.

The company expanded into the New Orleans area and developed subdivisions throughout south Louisiana. Among them are Lakeside in Morgan City and Bayou Estates in Stephensville.

As a public official, Doiron served on the Morgan City Council and a member of the old St. Mary Police Jury. His longest stint in public service was as a member of the Morgan City Harbor and Terminal District board for 27 years, much of it as board president.

“Larry was good,” remembers Port of Morgan City Executive Director Raymond “Mac” Wade. “He knew the waterways. He knew the area.”

That knowledge led him to join the search for a solution to a recurring threat: backwater flooding along the Bayou Chene when the Atchafalaya River runs high.

That flooding affected east St. Mary, the Stephensville area and portions of four other parishes.

He was among the local people, often working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who came up with the idea of sinking a barge across Bayou Chene to block the high water. The idea was first put into practice in 1973, when the Atchafalaya reached a record stage of 10.53 feet at Morgan City.

“That’s what saved the area,” Wade said. “Larry was very much involved with it.”

The barge-sinking tactic would be used again in 2011, 2016 and 2019. It worked, but each deployment required millions of dollars and days of lead time.

Finally, in 2019, the St. Mary Parish Levee District received funding to build a permanent structure, a swinging barge gate that can be swung into place across Bayou Chene in hours instead of days. The federally funded project cost $80 million and was declared ready for work in April 2022.

The structure also serves as a visual reminder of how much the bayou has changed in half a century. In 1973, the width of the bayou could barely accommodate a 400-foot barge.

The barge-gate on the new permanent structure is 440 feet long and fits in the center of the bayou with hundreds of feet to spare on either side.

In addition to his public and private-sector work, Doiron donated the land on which Stephensville Elementary now stands.

Among the 75-100 people who attended Friday’s dedication ceremony were members of Doiron’s family, including his wife, Frances.