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SACRED HEART
Thrift Store, 304 South Railroad, Morgan City, holding a Ladies Pre-Summer Sale 8:30-11 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday, May 12-13 and 19-20. Women’s blouses and skirts, 50 cents. Mask required.

Submitted Photo
Five seniors at Patterson High School were awarded the David John Felterman Memorial Scholarship on Wednesday. The scholarship honors a PHS alumnus, David John Felterman, from the Class of 1970, who died tragically young. Shown are Kaylee Craddock, Devin Lawrence, Jonathan Cheely, Michael Brown, Caleb Aucoin, presenter Danny Felterman and Principal Lane Larive.

The Louisiana Society of Professional Surveyors gave a Nicholls State University professor its top award.
Dr. Brigett Scott received the 2019-2020 Outstanding Educator Award at the society's 2021 convention.
Scott, whose background is in dietetics, is the associate dean of the College of Science and Technology and director of the University Honors Program. She was the interim department head of applied sciences in 2019-2020. In 2006, the Louisiana Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics named Scott Outstanding Dietetic Educator.
“This award from LSPS was a total surprise, but I enjoyed working with the faculty and students in applied sciences,” said Scott. “Our students and professors are a hardworking group of individuals. I am proud of what we accomplished together.”
Founded in 1961, LSPS is a professional organization intent on enhancing the profession of land surveying. The group supports professionals and educational institutions by offering learning and leadership opportunities. LSPS also offers initiatives to foster interest in the philosophy and history of land surveying.
“LSPS welcomed me into their organization even though I was only department head for one year,” Scott said. “They want to see Nicholls Geomatics succeed, and they want to be a part of that success. I am honored to be recognized as their outstanding educator.”
The Department of Applied Sciences features two degree programs in geomatics and pre-engineering. Students learn from award-winning faculty in uniquely designed curriculums. Together, the programs engage undergraduates in issues facing the Louisiana coast.
Alumni board
members named
The Nicholls State University Alumni Federation announced the 2021-22 Alumni Federation Board of Directors and their officers.
Due to a recent bylaw update, the Executive Board has been voted on by the current Alumni Federation Board of Directors. Sheri Haydel Eschete (BS '84) has been elected as president, David Heltz (BS ‘84) as president-elect, Brooke Huddleston (BA ‘95, MEd ‘98) as past president, John Warren (BA ‘17) as vice president, Garett Charpentier (AGS ’12, BS ‘18) as treasurer and Jennifer Smith (BA ‘09) as secretary.
New board members are Michael J. Beck Jr. (AS ‘10, BS ‘19), Cynthia Lee Chauvin (BA ‘96), Kevin Clement (BS ‘87), Bart Folse (BS ‘07, MBA ‘16), Stacy Himel Guillot (BS ‘10), Dr. Mark E. Marshall (BA ‘86, MEd ‘90), Grant Ordoyne (BIS ‘15, MEd ‘18), Beth Nunez Risinger (BA ‘82) and Gregory A. Wood, Jr. (AS ‘99, BS ‘99).
New alumni chapter presidents and representatives are Adam Lefort (BS ‘16) for the College of Business Administration Alumni Chapter, Aldrian Smith (BS ‘17, MEd ‘19) for the College of Education Alumni Chapter, Bryce Silvio (BS ‘14) for the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute Alumni Chapter, Blaine Landry (BS ‘18) for the Cheer Alumni Chapter and Jarvis Shanklin (BA ‘95) for the Black Alumni Chapter. Electees will take over on July 1.
“These alums are fired up and they are already reaching out with new ideas,” said Katherin Mabile, director of alumni affairs.

It is invigorating to see this renewed excitement at Nicholls and we look forward to planning in-person events and seeing all of our alums this fall.”

Why does so much Louisiana French music come from the prairies of Evangeline Parish and western St. Landry?
Musical traditions such as the long-running Saturday morning broadcast from Fred’s Lounge in Mamou are rooted in a much longer tradition.
Ville Platte has been designated by the Louisiana Legislature as the “Swamp Pop Capital of the World” because of the town’s major role in the development of swamp pop music.
Floyd Soileau’s JIN Records, the label that has produced more swamp pop acts than any other in the state, began in Ville Platte and recorded such artists as the Boogie Kings, Rod Bernard, Tommy McLain, Joe Barry, Jivin’ Gene, Johnnie Allan, and Warren Storm.
Soileau also came from the prairies, reared in Faubourg near Ville Platte. He produced hundreds of Cajun French records under his other label, Swallow records, Floyd’s Record Shop in Ville Platte was an internationally known Cajun and zydeco music distributor.
“La-La” music, predecessor to much of what we call Cajun and zydeco, was developed on the prairies by memorable musicians such Amédé Ardoin, who was from the Eunice area, and carried on by others like Bois Sec Ardoin, who was born in Duralde, and Canray Fontenot, a native of L’anse aux Vaches near Basile.
Cajun hall of fame musicians such as Mayeus LaFleur (Mamou), Leo Soileau (Ville Platte), Iry Lejeune (Pointe Noire), Dennis McGee (Eunice area) and Nathan Abshire (born in Gueydan but a longtime resident of Basile) were instrumental in developing Cajun music as we know it.
Dewey Balfa and his brothers, who came from Mamou, were among the leaders of the revival of Cajun music.
Those are the ones who pop first into my mind. There were — and are — dozens of others who have their roots in the area and helped form early Louisiana French music and who continue the tradition today.
Why is that? Bois Sec Ardoin once suggested that it might be because in the early days there was nothing else to do out on the prairies but to play music and that once the tradition began within a family, it just kept going.
That’s probably as close to the truth as we’re going to get.
These musicians began to play on the front porches of their homes, later graduated to house dances, and then became mainstays at such institutions as the Avalon Club or Rainbow Club in Basile, Richard’s in Mallet, the Evangeline in Ville Platte, Green Lantern and Step-Inn Club at Lawtell and dozens of other dance halls that filled to overflowing on Saturday nights.
The early musicians also were the first to record many Louisiana French songs, and thus their versions became the standard used by later musicians.
Songs handed down from front porch to front porch, often with lyrics changed by each musician, were preserved in recordings that others imitated.
The lyrics and beat and meter of the recorded version became identified as the “right” way to sing or play a song.
Nowadays Cajun and zydeco music is heard around the world and is identified with all of south Louisiana.
And there are, of course, dozens of pioneers and modern practitioners who come from some place other than the Evangeline and St. Landry area.
But if you want to find where the roots of the music sink deepest, the south Louisiana prairies might be a good place to start looking.
A collection of Jim Bradshaw’s columns, "Cajuns and Other Characters," is now available from Pelican Publishing. You can contact him at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.