Acadiana Profile April-May 2022

Trailblazers P.26

TOP LAWYERS P.43

Keeping the regional tradition of instrument making alive

Accordian builder Andre Michot working on a reed block

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features A P R I L / M AY 2 022

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5 Acadianians who are making their mark on their professions, their commimities and the region

Local instrument makers, the unsung heroes of Louisiana music, carry on their traditions to safeguard the local soundscape

The Lafayette Bar Foundation’s protective order panel Helps abused women in the region

Whether it’s tax law, family law, personal injury law or any other field, our Top Lawyers for 2022 are true advocates for their clients in Acadiana.

Trailblazers

Music Makers

A Call to Service

Top Lawyers

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april/may VOLUME 41 NUMBER 02

10 NOTE DE L’EDITEUR

Editor’s Note

14 NOUVELLES DE VILLES

News Briefs

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Lettres D’Amour

A horticulturist’s love of the land and hope for its future 20 L’ART

Lafayette artist and art therapist Gwendolyn Aliexis Richard finds and shares the healing power of art

56 RECETTES DE COCKTAILS

Hideaway’s new sweet-and-sour spring sipper tips the classic sour ratio with French liqueur, Peruvian grape brandy and herbaceous Scandinavian spirits

58 DÎNER DEHORS

The Steamboat Warehouse in Washington is celebrated by diners and media alike

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La Maison

64 EN FRANÇAIS, S’IL VOUS PLAÎT

Un grand pas vers le Bon Dieu

A Lafayette couple builds for the future on a bayou-front lot steeped in memories of the past

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De la Cuisine

Flank steak with veggies offers flavorful simplicity

Acadiana Profile (ISSN 0001-4397) is published bimonthly by Renaissance Publishing LLC, 110 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Suite 123, Metairie, LA 70005 (504) 828-1380 and 128 Demanade, Suite 104, Lafayette, LA 70503 (337) 235-7919. Subscription rate: One year $10; no foreign subscriptions. Periodicals postage paid at Lafayette, LA, and additional mailing entry offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Acadiana Profile, 110 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Suite 123, Metairie, LA 70005. Copyright © 2022 Renaissance Publishing LLC. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the consent of the publisher. The trademark Acadiana Profile is registered. Acadiana Profile is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photos and artwork, even if accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope. The opinions expressed in Acadiana Profile are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the magazine or owner.

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E D ITO RIA L Managing Editor Art Director Associate Editor Copy Editor Lead Photographer Web Editor

Melanie Warner Spencer Sarah George Ashley McLellan Liz Clearman Danley Romero Kelly Massicot

A DV E RT ISIN G Sales Manager Rebecca Taylor

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(337) 235-7919 Ext. 230 rebecca@acadianaprofile.com

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N OT E DE L’E DIT E U R

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AWARDS

n 2019 we published our first installment of Acadiana Trailblazers. The concept was simple: Find Acadianians d o i n g i mp re s s ive t h i n g s.

Thankfully, that par t was simple. It comes as no surprise that there are a lot of people in Acadiana who are shaking things up, forging a new path and lifting others up as they do it. The hard part isn’t locating these individuals. No, no.

The hard part is narrowing down the list. The folks we picked (with the help of your online nominations) are talented, driven, creative and inspire everyone with whom they For our music makers come into contact. They feature, writer and certainly inspire me. I photographer Kevin hope you agree and feel a Rabalais traveled the lit tle more motivated region to get at the heart of Acadiana’s toward your own dreams tradition of instrument after reading about our makers. Their work 2022 Acadiana Trailblazers. permeates every Much like the trailaspect of Acadiana’s culture, such as the blazers keeping the spirit Courir de Mardi Gras of Acadian ingenuity alive, at Mermentau Cove. our music makers feature Pictured here is Jerrett is an exploration of the LeBlanc during the run. artisans in Acadiana who are keeping the tradition of instrument making alive. Writer and photographer Kevin Rabalais traveled the region in search of instrument makers and musicians, as well musicians who are instrument makers. The result is a gorgeous deep dive into a part of the culture that is so ingrained and important, it permeates every fiber of the region. Music is in Acadiana’s DNA and, much like an appendage, the instruments made here are simply an extension of the people creating and playing these beautiful works of art.

While design, art, fun things to do, music and Cajun culture in general are of course always a big part of Acadiana Profile, at its heart, this magazine is about people. Often, it’s about people helping people. Which is another easy thing to find in Acadiana. If you need a hand, Acadiana is the place to find it. Acadianians help their neighbors. So much so, they even often help their neighboring states and the neighboring states of those states. The history of the people of this region — from Acadians fleeing their homeland to countless historic natural disasters — means that Acadianaians know what it’s like to need help, so they give it freely when other’s need it, too. In that spirit, to accompany our annual Top

International and Regional Magazine Association 2021

Gold Art Direction of a Single Story Silver Covid Related Story Silver Food Feature Bronze Overall Art Direction 2020

Lawyers list this year, we’re shining the spotlight on a group that uses their education, expertise and time to help people who otherwise couldn’t afford their services.

The Lafayette Bar Foundation exists to do just that and a group of lawyers within the foundation focuses its efforts on helping abused women.

Reading about the important, uplifting and lifechanging work of this group is sure to change everything you thought you knew about law and the justice system.

Now, I’m well aware that some of you are just here for the food photos and recipes or to find out what restaurant you should visit next, so if that’s your thing, we have you covered, too. I get it!

Meanwhile, the spring weather is drawing us out and about, our favorite festivals are back and, as ever, it’s a great time to be in Acadiana. Enjoy the issue and the season.

Cheers!

Gold Overall Art Direction Silver Art and Culture Feature Silver Recreation Feature Bronze Food Feature Bronze Profiles Bronze Art Direction of a Single Story 2019

Winner Magazine of the Year Gold Overall Art Direction Gold Art Direction Single Story Gold Photo Series Silver Photographer of the Year 2018

Gold Overall Art Direction Gold Magazine Photographer Gold Art Direction of a Single Story Gold Food Feature Gold Department Silver Magazine Writer of the Year Silver Hed & Dek Silver Photo Series 2017

Melanie Warner Spencer Managing Editor Melanie@AcadianaProfile.com

Gold Overall Art Direction Gold Magazine Photographer of the Year Gold Art Direction of a Single Story Gold Food Feature Silver Cover 2016

GET MORE ACADIANA PROFILE AT ACADIANAPROFILE.COM AND BY FOLLOWING US ON INSTAGRAM AND FACEBOOK

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Gold Overall Art Direction Gold Magazine Photographer of the Year Gold Art Direction of a Single Story Silver Photo Series

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ÉQ U I P E DE V E NT E

Rebecca Taylor Sales Manager (337) 298-4424 (337) 235-7919 Ext. 230 Rebecca@AcadianaProfile.com

Coming Soon!

JUNE/JULY 2022

Recreation Fun things to do in Acadiana

PLUS

Medical Innovations Top three non-invasive cosmetic innovations 12

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N O U V E L L E S DE V IL L E S

by Lisa LeBlanc-Berry

A Fighter’s Rare Bourbon LAFAYETTE The top-ranked UFC fighter and Lafayette native, Dustin Poirier, has launched a new craft bourbon, Rare Stash. His branding concept celebrates all those who aspire to the “live rare, be rare” lifestyle that is “unique to each person.” Rare Stash bourbon’s intense initial taste is balanced by notes of oak, caramel, vanilla, hazelnut and butterscotch. Now available at select retailers throughout Louisiana (therarestash.com).

LAFAYETTE

Saving Acadiana’s Animals Bark in the Dark, one of Acadiana’s largest and most impactful fundraising events for animals, is April 7 in the Cajundome’s Festival Ballroom featuring an evening of entertainment, delectable cuisine by Chef Gilbert Decourt and opportunities to bid on exclusive auction items. Benefitting Acadiana Animal Aid, the region’s leader in animal rescue, sheltering and transport (development@ acadianaanimalaid.org; cajundome.com/events).

Ahoy Jean Lafitte Lookalikes

For Quick Energy Lafayette Main Squeeze Juice Co. is opening is first Lafayette location as it continues to expand across Louisiana. Local couple, owners Carly and Derek Peterson, are bringing the New Orleansbased company’s nutritionist-designed offerings that include cold-pressed juices and smoothies, juice cleanse programs and wellness shots at the end of the year. Customers can place orders with a mobile app (Apple App Store and Google Play Store). Cool perk: Geofencing technology lets the store know when you arrive curbside or in-store for your order. Franchise opportunities: mainsqueezejuiceco.com/franchise.

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FOR MORE NEWS BRIEFS VISIT ACADIANAPROFILE.COM

HOUMA The Keep Terrebonne Beautiful Pirates and Boots Festival is holding a celebration in conjunction with Keep Louisiana Beautiful Love the Boot Week April 23 at Houma Downtown Marina. Grab your best boots, cloak, eye patch, hook and earrings for the Jean Lafitte Lookalike contest and treasure hunt. Enjoy vendor booths, music, food and kids’ activities at the festive family fundraiser (houmatravel.com/events/ keep-terrebonne-beautifulpirates-boots-festival).

PHOTO COURTESY MONCUS PARK FACEBOOK

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N O U V E L L E S DE V IL L E S

by Lisa LeBlanc-Berry

Sushi Trail Expands BATON ROUGE, LAFAYETTE

Lafayette’s popular downtown sushi restaurant, Tsunami, is expanding to a second Baton Rouge location with outdoor seating, to be situated in a 4,000-square-foot space on the first floor of the Highland Development, corner of Bluebonnet (slated to open this summer). Tsunami’s original see-and-be-seen Baton Rouge location is situated on the top floor of the Shaw Center for the Arts (servingsushi.com).

ARNAUDVILLE

Boudin Flavored Beer A new limited-release Cajun breakfast stout from Bayou Teche Brewing features Best Stop’s boudin, Steen’s cane syrup and Art’s coffee flavors.

Cane syrup and boudin are added to the mash at the beginning, more boudin is added near the end of the boiling stage, and the beer is finished with coffee at the end of fermentation. The special brew (reminiscent of the iconic “seven-course” Cajun breakfast: a six-pack of beer and boudin) first debuted in 2019 featuring boudin from Russell’s Food Center (facebook.com/ bayoutechebrewing).

Sign Up Early

Gumbo Glory New Iberia The World Championship Gumbo Cookoff was recently touted by CNN travel contributor Jen Rose Smith, who named Louisiana gumbo in her “20 of the World’s Best Soups” roundup while plugging the gumbos served at New Iberia’s annual foodie fest. It was the only American soup that made CNN’s international list (which included the now embattled Ukraine’s beloved borscht). The 32nd annual Gumbo Cookoff will be held October 8-9 in downtown New Iberia (iberiachamber.org/gumbocookoff).

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FOR MORE NEWS BRIEFS VISIT ACADIANAPROFILE.COM

LAFAYETTE Ruffino’s new executive chef, Reid Henderson (a Louisiana Culinary Institute grad and former executive chef for Tsunami and the Seattle Seahawks) has dazzled guests with his Italianinspired fare at Ruffino’s in Lafayette and Baton Rouge since January. Henderson is helming The Ruffino’s Cooking Experience, a relaxed evening with chef instructions for a five-course meal enjoyed with wines. Themed monthly classes alternate between the two locations. (ruffinosrestaurant.com).

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LE T T R E S D'A MO U R

Seeing the Forest and the Trees A horticulturist’s love of the land and hope for its future

By Jim Foret illustration by Sara Willia

Acadiana, I have loved you my entire life — your people, your music, your food — but mostly, I love the color of the land, the beautiful restful green of it all and the dense cool shade of your canopy.

Late in life, I found a labor of love teaching 20-year-olds at ULL. I so enjoy teaching your children Acadiana, watching them catch fire and burn with enthusiasm for life and their careers. This is the gift I give myself.

I’m the eldest of 10 children. I’m followed by seven sisters in a row then two brothers.

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As you can imagine, meals at my house were much smaller then, many still divided by a big deal and it seemed then that Mom was fenced, vegetated headlands and drains with always pregnant. lots of pasture and many of the old homes My childhood memories are of wading remaining in place, perhaps abandoned barefoot in the old soft-sided Coulee Mine, but they and their barns were still common soaking up the natural world, making all in the landscape. I love these very Elmore those beautiful Gaia connections. I guess Morgan-esque memories. French was frethat young me required the escape of the quently the language spoken as we moved quiet wood and adventure of exploring the about.

Coulee’s riparian forest thickets.

Today, industrial agriculture and develThe water was clearer then and the mine opers have eliminated most of that history flooded less; that was before the developby replacing the small family farm with ment upstream. Then came the concrete modern farming’s big acreages, big equipcoulee armor sending the rainwater racing ment and precision leveling and more effito the Vermilion. cient water removal.

I remember Dad working with the This kind of farming coupled with develevolving Louisiana nursery industry as a opers paving over paradise meant fewer part of his teaching job with Southwestern opportunities for rainwater to soak into the Louisiana Institute (now Univerland, resulting in frequent sity of Louisiana at Lafayette), flood events. “Progress.” functioning as a research scienI love my work preserving tist/advisor to these wonderful JIM FORET is 75 and our old trees. I am grateful resided in Lafayette from folks. He served a similar role for those opportunities to 1950 to 1969. He is now a with our local public gardens, on educate folks about how a resident of lower-upper the islands, Avery and Jefferson, St. Martin Parish north of tree makes a living and how and Hodges Gardens in Many.

New Iberia. Married to his to keep them healthy. wife Paula for 53 years, As a kid, I loved wandering Along with love of family with Dad, listening to his stories, they have four children, there is that deep satisfying Rachel, Jacob, Amy taking in the rural scenery of the joy in caring for our trees, and Joe. Foret’s formal prairie terrace. The farms were training is in horticulture.

Acadiana. ■

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L’A RT

Medicinal Artistry Lafayette artist and art therapist Gwendolyn Aliexis Richard finds and shares the healing power of art

by John R. Kemp

“Art for art’s sake” is a popular trope in the art world, but to Lafayette artist Gwendolyn Alexis Richard, art is a place of solace that awakens the imagination to help heal the minds of troubled children and adults.

Born and raised in New Orleans, Richard has had a long career as a fine artist, teacher, art therapist and floral designer. In addition to her art, for the past 15 years she has served as the community development director for the Acadiana Center for the Arts in Lafayette.

But most of all, art and the need to help others have been driving forces in her life and work.

“Art has been present in my life for as long as I can remember,” says Richard, whose father, husband and children are also artists.

“It has been a joy through the best of times and a comforting release through the worst of times. My art sustained me when my mother passed away. My art was then and is to this day my therapy. I wanted to provide others with those opportunities to experience the therapeutic value of creating art.”

To that end, Richard knows she has reached those disabled children and adults when she sees “smiles on the faces of those who are nonverbal” or those “who held a paint brush for the very first time.”

As to how art helps the disabled, Richard says it’s pretty basic ­— everyone has a need to be creative and art stimulates the imagination and encourages creative expression.

“We all see and respond to the world and others in it differently,” she says. “We could all greatly benefit from more arts experiences.”

Richard’s interest in art began when her high school teacher suggested she consider art therapy as a major in college. Then came a scholarship to Xavier University where she studied art therapy, psychology and fine art under the acclaimed artist John Scott. After graduation in 1980, Richard took a job as an art teacher and therapist with mentally and physically disabled adults and later as the out-

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reach director with the Girl Scouts Council in New Orleans. When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, the Richards moved to Lafayette.

When not administering the arts grant programs at the Acadiana Center, Richard is deeply involved in her own art, especially her paintings of flowers and the female figure.

“The human body is beautiful,” she says.

“Each line, scar, dimple, beauty mark and expression is unique to the individual being

TO SEE MORE OF GWENDOLYN ALEXIS RICHARD’S WORK VISIT GWENRICHARD6.WIXSITE. COM/WEBSITE OR ACADIANAPROFILE.COM

PHOTOS BY PHILIP GOULD; PORTRAIT BY NEAL ANTHONY ROBERT

portrayed. The more wrinkles, the better. To me, this represents a different kind of beauty, earned from the experiences of life. And of course, I am obsessed with painting flowers.”

Her expressive ongoing series, “Sisters of Flora,” which combines both themes, is inspired by her love of flowers and the pain she has endured since back surgery. A third influence came from a lecture she heard about the “tignon,” a colorful head wrap worn

by African-American and Creole women in south Louisiana, the Caribbean and in Africa.

“This series in intended,” she says, “to be whimsical, surreal, with enough realism to be relatable to the observer, while indulging my obsession with the scent, feel and beauty of fresh flowers and the imaginary woman portrayed. I am mentally and emotionally connecting with strong women, especially my mother, Eloise Clavo Alexis, who have collectively made me strive to be a better person.”

That human connection is vital in all of her work.

“I see layers of complexity and beauty in each and every person I meet,” she says.

“Often, when meeting a person for the first time my mind automatically begins to visually sketch their unique facial features in the air slightly above their heads. To me, this is all magical.”

Richard hopes her paintings awake in others some bit of lost memory. But most of all she simply loves to paint.

“I love the feel of the brush in my hand,” she says, “the faint smell of the paint, the beautiful array of colors on my palette and watching a blank, white canvas transform by those colors into different stages of artistic expression until completion.”

As she says, it’s “magical.”■

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LA MAISON

Magic Tree House A Lafayette couple builds for the future on a bayou-front lot steeped in memories of the past

by Marie Elizabeth Oliver photos by Haylei Smith

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It has been a year since moving in, but Bill Finley still opens his kitchen cabinets and closet doors with the joie de vivre of a kid on Christmas morning.

He and his wife, Heather, spent the past decade meticulously planning their forever home, perched on the edge of a natural Vermilion River levee. The couple lived on the

According to the Finleys, in one of their early meetings with the team from Chase Marshall Architects, the couple was describing what they wanted the exterior of the home to look like, and the architects interjected: “What you want is a tree house.” Recalling the conversation, Bill says: “And that’s what we got.”

property for 20 years before foundation issues prompted them to rebuild, and so their homecoming is especially sentimental.

“We loved this lot from the first time we set eyes on it,” says Heather. “It’s a downhill slope from our house to the bayou. When we look out at the windows we’re on the edge of the canopy.”

The Finleys let the natural beauty of the tree-lined watershed take center stage in the ACADIANAPROFILE.COM

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Natural light streams into the main living space and kitchen from all angles. Heather says the couple’s primary design goal revolved around having as many windows as possible.“We knew we wanted to look outside,” she explains.

“We never have been fussy, traditional interior people, because the focus is outside the windows.”

Architect Chase Marshall Architects, ChaseMarshall.com Designer Mary Beyt, instagram.com/ MaryBeyt Cabinets Cajun Wood Cabinets, cajunwoodproductslaf.com Woodworks Justin Guillory

TO GET MORE OF THIS HOME VISIT ACADIANAPROFILE.COM

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home’s design — from steel-framed picture windows to a central, sculptural wall, crafted to resemble a tree trunk. Built on pilings, the two-story home features a guest entry and main living space at street level, with a single bedroom suite below.

“It’s kind of a striking looking house from the outside,” says Bill. “You come inside and it’s even better.”

The couple worked with Chase Marshall Architects and designer Mary Beyt, who says her goal with the interior was to help the couple bring the outside in. Natural materials and a consistent, soft white color palette for the internal and external walls draws the eye outward to the lush landscape.

“It’s all about focal points,” says Beyt.

“Where’s your big ah-ha moment? If you can kind of get those under your belt, it’s really easy to make a house that has all these moments, and those moments help you travel through the house.”

The Finleys have pockets of passion projects around every corner. Still, Bill says he spends the most time in the upstairs kitchen, complete with a butler’s pantry, wine fridge and low-level, built-in appliances. He explains the couple designed the entire space to be ADA compliant.

Heather, a master gardener and member of the Acadiana Native Plant Project, makes good use of the home’s ample sunlight. (The sunlight is also a favorite perk of the couple’s dog, Oreo.) She says her favorite spot is outside on the balcony overlooking the bayou, which the Finleys swear is so high the mosquitos never bother them.

It may have taken 10 years of planning, but they have clearly thought of everything. ■

A towering, floorto-ceiling, built-in bookshelf serves as a functional focal point — sliding open to reveal the couple’s entertainment center.

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5 Acadianians who are making their mark on their professions, their communities and the region.

by Stanley Dry Fritz Esker Cheré Coen portraitS by Romero & Romero David Simpson

trailblazerS

conservation

S

Anne Darrah had rarely volunteered in New Iberia until she got the idea of improving her neighborhood by planting trees.

She is a retired designer and art director who won numerous awards for her work at The Times of Acadiana, as a board member of Festival International in Lafayette and as the principal of her own design and marketing agency. Along the way, she also became a skilled cabinetmaker and, with her husband, Curtis, formed a duo called Fair to Middlin’ that played a mix of bluegrass and folk they called folkgrass for six years in five states.

In December of 2019, her project began to take shape. She went doorto-door offering to plant trees in her neighbors’ yards. Local Scout troops planted 40 trees donated by Apache Corporation on her street and around the corner on Henry Street, which runs through the heart of Lil’ Brooklyn, a traditionally African-American neighborhood that at one time was called Freetown. The Lil’ Brooklyn name was coined by a resident who had been to New York and said that the nearby bridge over Bayou Teche reminded him of the bridge over the East River connecting Brooklyn to Manhattan.

The project evolved due to the work of volunteers and local residents.

Through the efforts of Bayou Paints, a local retailer, they received a Benjamin Moore grant for the paint needed to paint the houses on Henry Street in a Caribbean color palate. They have painted 12 houses and painted the trim on eight more in Lil’ Brooklyn, thanks to donations and grants.

In addition to planting trees and painting houses, the project included upgrading and expanding a pocket park in the neighborhood, planting a small orchard, convincing four owners of empty houses to sell to people who would fix them up and live in them and cleaning and clearing neglected properties. The group is on its third tree grant and in the process of raising money to tear down a vacant commercial property on Henry Street. The plan is to replace it with a plaza and covered pavilion for students waiting for school buses unable to navigate the narrow dead end streets.

The Lil’ Brooklyn Neighborhood Initiative has its own Facebook page that documents some of the work that has been done and includes a replication guide for neighborhood initiatives. —

by Stanley Dry

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art

Galliano-born artist Dirk Guidry was named as Festival International de Louisiane’s Official Visual Artist for 2022.

Guidry’s job will involve creating a piece that encompasses the mood and tone of the festival.

Guidry, who now works in Lafayette, said the honor was “one of my greatest achievements as an artist thus far.”

Guidry’s love affair with painting started at the University of Louisiana. He was studying computer animation, but took an intro to painting class. He soon decided to switch his focus.

“It’s the process,” Guidry said. “There’s something organic about the paint … The paint brush is an extension of you … I love the smell of the paint, the physicality of the work.”

Some of Guidry’s work involves wedding painting. Just as there are wedding photographers, there are also wedding painters. It doesn’t involve having the wedding party stand perfectly still while Guidry paints them. Instead, he sits at the wedding at his painter’s easel and spends the night painting a picture that encapsulates the spirit of the event.

“It’s more about the energy (of the event) than photorealism,” Guidry said.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Guidry was working 40 to 45 weddings a year. While things have slowed down during the pandemic, he still estimates he has done about 35 in the last year. He finds it fun. He has been able to travel to places like Cabo San Lucas in Mexico and Carmel, California to work weddings. Guests are always interested to see someone painting the event, so they come up and chat with him while he works and he gets to meet a variety of people.

Guidry also has his own studio space in downtown Lafayette, where he showcases his abstract art. He said he likes abstract painting because it’s more about feeling and emotion. Sometimes people are intimidated when looking at abstract work, but Guidry said the point is to get them talking.

“It’s a conversation,” Guidry said. “That’s what art is about.”

Guidry has also worked on several murals in Acadiana.

He likes that work because it is community-driven. He is also able to employ other artists and give them work.

The 34-year-old Guidry is married and has four children. He said he loves the culture of Acadiana — the tight family ties, the music, and the food. Regarding the latter, crawfish etouffe on fried fish (yes, on fried fish) is his favorite entree. – Fritz Esker

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cajun culture Rebecca “Becca” Begnaud of Scott was always a student of people, life and culture, having graduated with a degree in anthropology from the University of Southwestern Louisiana, now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She was also a natural-born healer, granddaughter of a traiteur.

But she didn’t truly understand the mindbody-spirit until she became a patient, twice recovering from breast cancer and experiencing mental illness. She trained to become a Reiki Master, a Healing Touch Practitioner and in Trauma First Aid. Like her grandfather and other Cajun traiteurs, she helped others in service, not as a paying profession.

Begnaud has worked with the Extra Mile of Lafayette, Camp Bluebird for cancer patients, and was founding director of the now defunct Healthcare for Musicians (her son is musician Drew Landry). She founded the Healing Arts Collective that trains others in the healing arts.

Her path helping others also allowed Begnaud to find and heal herself, and her career has evolved into something more varied.

Today, Begnaud plays in a band called Becca and the Band-Ades and has performed in several films, including the most recent “17-Year Locust” by director Logan Leblanc. The film centers around a struggling immigrant who takes a job as a caregiver to a dying Cajun

woman, played by Begnaud. The two characters find they share a common language — French.

Begnaud’s voice is the first audiences hear in the documentary, “Intention.” The film

by Lafayette-based filmmakers Syd Horn and Olivia Perillo, which highlights several spiritual South Louisiana women who live with intention, was recently shown at the Acadiana Center for the Arts, followed by Begnaud’s musical performance at the Blue Moon Saloon.

“The healer was there waiting,” Begnaud said of her first career. “Now that the healer is out I can be an artist. The rest of my life is to live fully as an artist. I can’t not be a healer

but that’s not all I can do. I can be in a band and be in a film.

“My healing process was owning who I was,” she said.

Besides, music and dance is part of how Cajuns heal, she added with a laugh.

“One way to share about healing was to talk, then go dance,” she said. “We’re supposed to be healed to joy. So, after a healing session, let’s go dancing.”

Begnaud still works as a healer but she believes her artistic endeavors will be of service as well.

“I have a bigger stage than I could have ever asked for,” she said. “Life is good. It’s almost bragging, it’s that good.” ­— By Cheré Coen

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Philanthropy Summer of 2021 was already challenging for local residents due to COVID-19’s Delta surge, but on August 29, Hurricane Ida made landfall and turned thousands of lives upside down. But the Bayou Community Foundation has worked to ease the burden on locals.

As of January 28th, the foundation has awarded over $3.7 million in grants to local nonprofits to fund relief efforts for residents of Lafourche Parish, Terrebone Parish and Grand Isle in the five months following Ida. “We have been so inspired by the generous donors from around the country and our local nonprofits who hit the ground running to meet our community’s needs,” said Jennifer Armand, executive director of the Bayou Community Foundation.

One of the first things the Bayou Community Foundation did was distribute gasoline to the community. Anyone who was in southern Louisiana for Ida knows how hard gas was to find in the hurricant’s aftermath. The foundation worked to get gas trucks to affected areas from Sept. 4 through 9. They distributed over $127,000 in gasoline to help locals power generators and fuel cars. Armand said the lines for gas stretched for miles.

The Bayou Community Foundation worked with local nonprofits to get emergency grants to Fletcher Technical Community College and Nicholls State University and help meet the housing needs of students, staff, and families.

Once September turned into October, the foundation pivoted to funding efforts that were more recovery-oriented instead of relieforiented. They helped distribute family meals during Thanksgiving and Christmas and provided families with school supplies.

Many area nonprofits sustained damage to their facilities during Ida. So, the foundation started a special grants program in November that awarded $230,000 to local non-profits to repair their buildings.

Now, Armand said the most pressing need is housing (approx. $1.4 million has been allocated to help housing programs). She said early estimates put the number of homes damaged by Ida at approximately 12,000. There are also very few rental units available. The foundation supported a camper distribution program that has provided 30 campers to local residents.

While there are many Ida-related challenges still to be met, Armand is confident the people of Acadiana will find the strength to endure.

“We are a people who are very resilient …

When we experience disasters and challenges, we are the type of people who pick ourselves up and get to work. I really have faith in the people here,” Armand said. – Fritz Esker

MUSIC

The best way to describe Dennis Paul Williams would be as a renaissance man. He’s an accomplished painter, a guitarist in Nathan Williams and the Zydeco Cha-Chas, a city councilman in St. Martinville, and he plans to add author to his resume soon via a children’s book he’s collaborating on with New Orleans author Michael Tisserand.

Williams, one of 10 children in his family, lost his father at the age of 10. From an early age he wanted to paint, taking part in his high school’s art program and working odd jobs at a local print shop. The high school program didn’t work out for Williams and the print shop’s owner noticed he seemed down. After he talked to the owner (a music buff) about it, the man loaned Williams money to buy his first guitar and channel his creativity.

After a stint overseas in the Marine Corps, Williams returned home. When his brother Nathan told him he was starting a Zydeco band, Williams auditioned in front of the band’s guitar player. Williams wasn’t expecting anything to come of it, but the guitar player liked how Williams played. That was over 30 years ago.

“What drew me to it (Zydeco music) was the honesty about it … and it still does,” Williams

said. “It’s got African, Cajun, and Creole influences. It’s like a gumbo, for real.”

Williams remembers Zydeco music as an important part of his childhood in a Creole household with a grandmother who barely spoke English. His family was also friends with renowned Zydeco pioneer Clifton Chenier.

Aside from his work with his band, Williams also plans to release a solo album later this year. The children’s book he writing and illustrating will also be about Zydeco.

When asked what he appreciates most about Acadiana, Williams points to the people.

“Acadiana has some of the most talented people I’ve ever met, and I’ve traveled around the world,” Williams said. “We have such a unique voice … Everything is about a connection.” – Fritz Esker

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F O R S E V E R A L Y E A RS , the Illinois-born singer-songwriter Andrew Bird has been travelling into natural and urban landscapes — the Coyote Gulch canyon of Utah, say, or under the Glendale-Hyperion Bridge in Los Angeles — to compose music that he bases on the temperament of each place. Bird calls the project “Echolocations.”

Unless you climb a levee, cross a bridge onto the Westbank or fly into or out of Louis Armstrong International Airport, it’s possible to live your entire life in New Orleans

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without ever seeing the Mississippi River. The chances of living in Acadiana and not hearing the music that emerges from this land, or of knowing one or more of the musicians who make it, are much slimmer. Music, much like language, arises from the landscape, history and cultures of its inhabitants. While we often measure the progress of a place through its industrial and technological advancements, there’s a parallel history — one that sustains and enriches our inner lives, if not always our bank accounts — in the arts that its people create and pass on to future generations.

Incredible to think of the first instrument played in Louisiana. Incredible to think of the first time that people gathered to celebrate — here, in this new place — in the sonic aura of a fiddle. Incredible to think of the first time someone scratched at a washboard, inciting dance. “All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music,” wrote English essayist Walter Pater, giving us one reason why we often elevate our local musicians above our poets and painters. Music accompanies us wherever we want to carry it. Within that music thrives the people who make it. They’re the ones who enhance our day through tinny car speakers, on stages and streets, on TV screens and wagons and floats during parades. In these and other places, they offer solace, elation and the full sweep of emotions in between.

“Making music with fiddles and accordions, guitars and triangles, spoons and scrubboards, Cajun and Creole musicians have become culture heroes as South Louisianans reaffirm their pride in their tradition,” wrote Barry Jean Ancelet and Mathé Allain in 1984 in “Travailler, C’est Trop Dur: The Tools of Cajun Music.” “But the unsung heroes are the traditional instrument makers who have provided performers with the tools of their trade ... .” If you live in Acadiana, chances are high that you also know one or more of the many who carry on this long tradition. Some of them build and sell their instruments when they’re not touring with their bands. Others work full time, providing possibility for musicians in Louisiana and beyond.

Tee Don Landry of Key of Z Rubboards carries in his bloodline the origins of the instrument that he’s played in Zydeco bands all over

In the video, Landry says, Clifton recounts how he and Cleveland needed a more portable instrument for their performances. Standing over a sandy patch of earth, Clifton draws an outline of the instrument he envisions.

Then the brothers talk about how they found someone who made it possible.

Landry, whose name is synonymous with rubboard making in Louisiana, if not the world, describes the moment like an archaeologist discovering a vanished civilization. Needing to share the story, he showed the video to his mother. Afterward, she turned to him and said, “Mais, Don, you know that was your daddy.”

Landry didn’t. His father, by then deceased, had been a master iron worker. All Landry

knew at the time was that this moment on the video felt like an epiphany, something that helped to explain an urge that had been stirring inside of him for several years.

Years before, in the 1980s, Landry went to see Joe Coleman, who ran a sheet metal shop in Lafayette, where he built rubboards on the side, and commissioned an instrument. Soon after Landry received his rubboard, the two lost contact. Then Landry heard that Coleman had stopped working. “I called him and said, ‘I wouldn’t have done this if you hadn’t retired, but I really feel something is telling me to make these rubboards.’”

From Coleman, Landry learned about what equipment he would need to begin and how

ACADIANA PROFILE

(Left) Tanner Fontenot plays an Acadian Accordion at the Courir de Mardi Gras Les Malfecteurs in Church Point (Bottom) Jay Steiner makes a ’tit fer in the forge at Vermilionville (Right) An in-progress violin rests on Chris Segura’s workshop table in Lafayette

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the world. Landry began making instruments in Sunset — the “Rubboard Capital of the World” — in 1995, a decade after he began playing them. The story of the rubboard, or frottoir, begins with that first time someone scratched at a washboard, the original tool that gives the instrument another of its names. One day after Landry and his rubboard had been touring for several years, he saw a video of Zydeco pioneers Clifton and Cleveland Chenier discussing the crudity of the early instrument, typically a tin washboard with rope tied around the top so that a musician can hang it from the neck. Landry watched, riveted, as Clifton Chenier discussed a pivotal moment in 1946. “They weren’t famous yet,” Landry says. “They were just young guys making music.”

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(Left) Kevin Rees plays a Cajun Accordion at Vermilionville (Bottom) Tee Don Landry works in his Key of Z Rubboards workshop in Sunset (Right) These details distinguish Jay Steiner’s ’tit fers

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to modify steel — ultimately, the stainless steel that he works with now to make the “crisper, clearer, louder, resonant sound” that distinguishes his Key of Z Rubboards. “He was completely generous with his knowledge,” Landry says of Coleman.

Such generosity ensures the preservation of tradition. Today, Landry sells rubboards all over the world. On one table in his workshop rises a stack of five composition books with names and addresses of customers, along with the serial number of the rubboard they purchased. He started keeping this information one year after he began making rubboards, so it’s missing entries, but his notebooks and the clippings and memorabilia on his workshop walls show that he’s sold instruments to ZZ Top, Kid Rock, Rihanna, and, he says, “most of the Zydeco bands that tour.”

As for the bend of the sheet metal that goes around the shoulders — the detail that made the instrument portable — that’s one “trade secret” that Landry won’t talk about, he says while turning to check a new message on his

phone. “I just got a sale from Amazon,” he says. Soon, he will open that top composition book and record the details for rubboard number 4,571.

Joseph Carrier, band leader of Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band, refers to Landry as “the rubboard man.” Late in this year’s Carnival season, his damaged accordion needed urgent care so that he could fulfill his performance obligations. “Martin Accordions is the place to take our accordions to be worked on,” Carrier says. Worked on, he notes, but not made, for while Acadiana has become a mecca of melodeon (diatonic) accordion makers, Carrier can’t name anyone who builds the piano accordions that most Zydeco musicians play.

“We have to go overseas,” he says. “The go-to accordion is made in Italy by Dino Baffetti.”

Through their ability to generate high volume, the arrival of the accordion in Louisiana in the late 1800s altered the history of local music. Fiddlers and players of the ’tit fer had to generate extra energy to keep up with that new volume. Some of the earliest accordions that made their way into the hands of local musicians were the German-made brands Monarch and Sterling. From German factories, they sailed across the Atlantic to the Manhattan instrument distributor Buegeleisen and Jacobson, eventually travelling south to the Rayne department store Mervine Kahn.

For decades, many Louisiana accordionists played German-made instruments that often bore the stamp “Made for B & J.” Without local makers, and with no one here to repair or tune, musicians had to send their accordions away when they needed work.

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Andre Michot, the accordionist of Grammy Award-winning Lost Bayou Ramblers and maker of Michot Accordions, imagines a scene: A group of local musicians arrive at a friend’s house, loading his truck with their damaged and out-of-tune instruments. They then send a lone driver west to Houston to see the Czechborn music store owner John Mrnustik.

Such trips increased in the late 1930s after German accordion factories converted to war production. With the rise of the Berlin Wall, East German products were no longer available in the West. This created a shortage in local availability. Then, in the 1950s, Church Point-born Sidney Brown changed the history of the accordion in Louisiana.

“He went from repairing to making them, applying reverse engineering,” says Michot, illustrating the moment as he stands in front of a mid-20th century Hohner, one of many accordions in his collection. “He took apart a Hohner and learned to build by putting it back together again.”

After Brown began making accordions, other locals learned the process, among them Lawrence “Shine” Mouton, Marc Savoy, Clarence “Junior” Martin, and Randy Falcon, mythic names in the pantheon of Louisiana music. Martin, who worked in construction, began much like Brown. One day more than 30 years ago, Pennye Huval stepped into her father’s home and saw his Acadian accordion dismantled. The parts of the instrument that Marc Savoy made for him lay scattered across the room.

“Has Momma seen what you’ve done?”

Huval asked.

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“I want to try to make one,” Martin said.

From then on, father and daughter spent several years studying and planning. Huval, a retired principal at Breaux Bridge Primary, would leave school at the end of each day to commence work building that first accordion with her father, now age 81 and still working every day in the family shop, Martin Accordions, in Scott. Together, they have been making instruments for more than 30 years.

“The actual date is hard to say,” Huval says, “because we spent so long studying and asking questions. What kind of parts would we need?

What name would we give it? What would it look like?”

To that latter question, Martin Accordions eventually provided an iconic answer. Across the bellows, a crawfish stretches its claws wider and wider as the instrument expands.

This detail came after California artist Jim Bartz requested permission to add an image to the bellows of his own Martin accordion. “We told him to go ahead,” Huval says. Now, even when the instrument’s face is turned away, that crawfish distinguishes a Martin accordion.

Nearby, in Broussard, Andre Michot works alone as he maintains the lineage of Louisiana accordion makers. About 20 years ago, recognizing that few locals had the skills to tune accordions, Randy Falcon suggested that Michot learn. Then in 2006, Falcon started teaching Michot how to make accordions. He admires the distinct sound of local accordions,

noting that he can detect a Falcon or Acadian in the first notes.

“Tuning the reeds is where a lot of the distinction comes in,” Michot says, estimating that he spends an average of three hours tuning an accordion. Building one, on the other hand, requires between 80 to 100 hours.

He makes them in batches, usually three at a time. In a small room in the back of his shop, Michot sits in front of a reed block from his current batch. With a dropper, he applies beeswax — “My neighbor is a beekeeper, and he gave this to me,” — and pine resin to hold the reed block to the reed plate, then a layer of linseed oil to prevent it from becoming brittle.

After finishing, Michot moves to the front room of his workspace, equal parts accordion shop and museum, to survey his collection: Monarch and Sterling brands, some with that B & J stamp, also Globe, Lester, Paolo Soprani, as well as accordions by Louisianans Sidney Brown, “Shine” Mouton and John Hebert.

Eventually, he opens a glass case from which he selects one of his earliest instruments. “I used to play this one on stage. Then my drummer backed his car over it. I don’t think it’s fixable.” Carefully replacing the busted instrument, Michot smiles as he closes the cabinet door. Behind him, guitars hang from a front wall. Accordions fill shelves and cases.

Faces, reeds and bellows sprawl on a table next to a tuner that looks like it’s on loan from NASA, and yet there’s a serene order here, one

that matches Michot’s demeanor as he talks about the history of the accordion, occasionally stopping to play. Exchanging one instrument for another, he says, “I love all of this.”

Michot’s joy, infectious in its authenticity, also exudes from violin makers Anya Burgess and Chris Segura. Burgess plays fiddle with Bonsoir Catin and The Magnolia Sisters and runs Sola Violins in downtown Lafayette. In those moments that she can carve away from these and other obligations, she also makes violins, although she hesitates to call herself a maker. “If I can build one a year, that’s amazing. Even full-time violin makers, if they build one a month, that’s serious production.

You have to be crazy to be a violin maker.”

(Above) Fr. Trey Ange, Jarrett LeBlanc, Josh Regan, and Smith Stickney perform at the Courir de Mardi Gras de L’anse in Mermentau Cove (Right) In his workshop in Broussard, Andre Michot works on the reed block of a Michot Accordion

Steiner stokes the fire. Sparks surround his face. “Those early instruments were not struck with iron rods,” he says. “They were triangles with metal loops and shaken like tambourines.” The instrument evolved to what we now know when music moved into dance halls and instruments needed to become louder because of the venue size.

“I picked this up as I went along,” Steiner says, noting that he had no mentor, only curiosity and appreciation for the history of the instrument. “I call it learning by burning.”

There are, he believes, a few other ’tit fer makers in the area. Unlike him, he says, they use modern equipment and gas, rather than coal, to forge the steel. Among the musicians and bands who use his ’tit fers, Steiner cites Louis Michot, Chris Stafford and Wilson Savoy. He’s also made the house triangle at the Blue Moon Saloon, and you can leave the gift shop at Vermilionville with a T-shirt that features a replica of one of his earliest instruments.

Outside the forge, a crowd gathers to watch Steiner work. When the flame dies, he selects several ’tit fers from his bag and steps onto the porch to greet visitors from Canada, France and California. Steiner shifts between French and English, leading the visitors through the

history of the instrument and its role in Louisiana music. Then he starts to play. A wideeyed 11-year-old girl from San Diego moves closer. Steiner stops and reaches into his bag for a smaller instrument. Passing it to her, he offers a brief instruction, and soon, smiling, she begins to create her own sound.

“God gave me a blacksmith’s hands,” he says.

“I’ve got rhythm in my head, but I can’t translate it elsewhere.” With the young first-timer accompanying him, Steiner resumes playing, proving himself wrong.

Here ’s a vision with accompanying soundtrack: Steiner, dressed like an 1870s blacksmith, moves across the floorboards outside the forge, the leather soles of his boots stirring dust, iron striking iron as he dances to the rhythm of an instrument that he made with his own hands, an instrument whose lineage reaches back to a hay rake that grazed the land from which this music sprung, this land that continues to cultivate and nourish it.

Take what is available and use it. Modify what you inherit. Place these instruments in someone’s hands and teach them to play.

In the process, listen as a local soundscape emerges. Watch a culture endure. ■

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As a student at Indiana University, Burgess remembers feeling nearly woozy with delight when she saw a course listing for violin making. She enrolled at once and continues to practice the Italian method that she learned in school, using all hand tools, a tradition that she has passed onto Segura, a founding member of Feufollet and fiddler for the Pine Leaf Boys. Several years ago, when Segura expressed interest in learning how to make the instrument that he’s played since age four, the two applied for and received an fellowship grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts.

The grant lasted one year. They continued for another, working side-by-side, with Segura driving to Burgess’s workshop in Arnaudville two, sometimes three days a week.

“I think that Anya is the first classically trained violin maker to make violins in south Louisiana,” Segura says as he sits before an inprogress violin in his Lafayette workshop. As a child, he remembers being in the Vermilion Parish home of fiddle maker Lionel Leleux.

“Tools and violins were piled up on tables.

Pieces were everywhere,” he says of that first vision of what making an instrument might look like. Leleux’s instruments were a major advancement upon the cigar box violins of early makers such as Joseph “Bébé” Carrière.

As they continue this tradition, Burgess and Segura carry small cases of tools to Sola Violins, where they restore instruments and prepare new ones for sale, and then back to their separate workshops, where in-progress violins await. The one laid out on Segura’s table will be, once finished, his fourteenth.

In Sola Violins, where the phone rings, customers browse, and locals stop by to chat about music or just to say hello, the two know that they could never find the time or long stretches of sustained attention necessary to build their own instruments while working in the shop. “Violin making can be lonely,” Burgess says. “Our mission here is making access to music easier. The shop allows us to do that.”

Both perform with instruments that they made, Burgess with the violin she built in that university course, Segura with the one that he made under her tutelage. “It’s become an extension of me,” he says, opening a case to look at his first creation. After a few moments, he turns from it to pick up his thirteenth violin, an instrument waiting for its Canadian owner to collect. Then, closing his eyes, he plays, swaying gently to music that he creates and makes possible for others.

In “The Cajuns: From Acadia to Louisiana,” William Faulkner Rushton writes of the rise of another quintessential instrument for local music: “Out of the milieu of violins and spoons eventually evolved the use of the ’tit fer, or triangle, as a clear, light, bell-like rhythm section.” The sound, not as dominant as drums, soon became ubiquitous in music made throughout Acadiana.

“Early ’tit fers date to the late 1800s and early 1900s and bear little resemblance to the triangles made today,” says blacksmith Jay Steiner as he lights the coal forge in his shop at Vermilionville. “They were made from scrap steel salvaged from old hay rakes. The loops were about a yard long. Divide by three, and that’s the perfect amount for a ’tit fer.”

A CALL TO SERVICE THE LAFAYETTE BAR FOUNDATION’S PROTECTIVE ORDER PANEL HELPS ABUSED WOMEN IN THE REGION

BY FRITZ ESKER PORTRAITS BY JASON COHEN

W

hen most of us think of hiring a lawyer, we assume it will cost a lot of money. As a result, some people who need legal counsel may never seek it because they think there will be no way they can afford it. But for financially strapped people in Lafayette who need legal assistance, they can get pro bono (a.k.a free) legal representation through the Lafayette Bar Foundation. The Foundation provides a variety of legal services to peole in Acadiana who are indigent, low income and disadvantaged.

One of these services is the protective order panel, which helps abused women secure protective orders against their abusers. The panel is done in partnership with Faith House of Acadiana (faith-

FIGHTING FOR PEOPLE WHO NEED HELP All of the attorneys agreed that the ability to fight for those who are unable to protect themselves is an immensely rewarding part of being on the protective order panel.

Simmons said any client who reaches out to the program should know they will be cared for and fought for.

“We’ve got your back, we’re here to fight for your interests, and everything’s going to be OK,” Simmons said.

houseacadiana.com). A protective order is a civil proceeding with potential criminal consequences for abusers. Protective orders can accomplish a variety of things. They can legally require an abuser to cut off all contact. Even a text message can result in strict legal consequences for them. They can also mandate counseling for the abusers.

Three young Lafayette attorneys — Phillip Smith, Sarah Simmons and Katelyn Bayhi — are some of the legal minds providing that service for abuse victims in Lafayette.

PHILLIP SMITH, a 30-year-old attorney with Neuner Pate in Lafayette, said domestic violence victims usually start the legal process with either a call to a domestic abuse hotline or a visit to a shelter.

That alone takes courage for the victim.

“It’s the first step in a journey for them,” Smith said.

Pro bono work is important for domestic violence victims because abusers often control the household’s finances. As a result, women fleeing an abusive relationship are unlikely to be able to afford an attorney. If they cannot afford an attorney, then they have to face the judge and their abuser by themselves. Abusers sometimes will berate their victims in court and bring up painful, irrelevant personal details in front of everyone in attendance.

“A lot of [abused women] are terrified by the legal process,” Smith said.

One of Smith’s most memorable clients was in this type of financial situation. She was a mother of two young children under the age of 10, and she was in a relationship with a person addicted to methamphetamines who became physically abusive.

Smith said there is often a trigger for an abuser’s descent into physical abuse, and drug addiction is a common trigger. Thankfully, Smith was able to get the protective order for his client.

Smith described his pro bono work as a highly rewarding part of his practice and something Neuner Pate actively encourages in its attorneys.

“As lawyers, we are called to provide service to our community and the best way to do that is to provide legal services to people who cannot afford them,” Smith said.

When KATELYN BAYHI, an attorney with Neuner Pate, worked her first pro bono protective order case, she wanted to be kind and compassionate to her client in their initial consultation. But she was so nice on that day that the client made an apologetic confession after Bayhi negotiated a consent judgment (where a settlement is reached without a hearing) with the defendant. The client doubted they would be able to negotiate a settlement or win in court. “[The client] said she thought I sounded too nice on the phone,” Bayhi said.

But compassion serves its purpose even when dealing with the party accused of abuse. As badly as that party may have behaved, they are still human beings, too. Bayhi said she is sometimes able to negotiate settlements without a hearing, and she attributes this in part to her compassion. She said both sides in a domestic case usually want to feel like someone is genuinely listening to them.

Bayhi said the men accused of domestic violence often do not have legal representation. They are likely to feel overwhelmed at the thought of representing themselves in court. In her first case, Bayhi approached the defendant. He was defensive at first, but she calmly told him what her client wanted, and then attentively listened while he said what he wanted. They were then able to work out a consent judgment.

While some defendants cannot be reasoned with, Bayhi said the consent judgments are often helpful

to her clients because it is extremely stressful for a woman to go into court and face her abuser. She will then have to rehash her abuse in front of the court. It’s not something most victims want to do if it can be avoided.

Bayhi said the reward comes from being able to assist people going through a frightening time. The fact that there are often children involved makes the work even more urgent.

“It’s the idea of helping anyone who is not able to help themselves,” Bayhi said. “You’re not just helping the mother. You’re helping the children as well.”

Aside from the rewards of helping people in need, the 26-year-old Bayhi said pro bono work is also a great way for young attorneys to get valuable courtroom experience.

When 27-year-old Neuner Pate attorney SARAH SIMMONS works domestic violence/protective

order pro bono cases, she uses empathy to form a connection with her clients. She often thinks to herself “there but for the grace of God go I” when assessing the situations facing the scared young women she represents.

Simmons said many law school students will be laser-focused on their careers at first. But she said once she got her degree, she realized she had a unique set of skills that not many people have and that could be used to help those in need. “[As a lawyer] I can get nervous when I step in a courtroom, but I know what the law is and I know how to speak to a judge,” Simmons said.

Simmons’ clients, on the other hand, are scared and forced to face the man who has been abusing them while reliving their trauma.

Simmons’ most memorable case, like Bayhi’s, was her first one. It was a young mother about Simmons’ age with two kids in a relationship with a much older man who controlled all of the household’s finances. He told the client she needed to quit her job so she could stay home with the kids.

He manipulated her emotionally and isolated her from her friends. This escalated into acts of violence.

Simmons said the gradual progression of abusive behavior her client experienced is not uncommon.

It often starts with smaller things like emotional manipulation and financial control because it is easier to abuse someone who has no money and is isolated from people who care about them.

But Simmons’ client found the courage to pursue a protective order when she noticed the situation was affecting her children’s behavior. Simmons succeeded in getting a protective order for her client, who was ecstatic.

“She was so excited to have her freedom back, to get a job, to have independence,” Simmons said.

•

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Sometimes, people need someone to fight for them.

That's what good lawyers do for clients, whether it's tax law, family law, personal injury law or any other field.

Our top lawyers for 2022 are true advocates for their clients in Acadiana.

TOP LAWYERS

“Our area’s most respected attorneys, as nominated by their peers within the legal profession.

The attorneys in this feature were selected by Professional Research Services (PRS), which conducted an online peer-review survey of area attorneys in Acadiana, Louisiana. Attorneys were asked to nominated fellow lawyers they deemed the best in their field of law practice.

Many votes were cast honoring excellence in all categories of law. The featured attorneys were screened and selected through the verification of licensing and review of any infractions through applicable boards, agencies and rating services.

For additional information, visit prscom.com.

Acadiana Profile was not involved in the selection process. “

ADMINISTRATIVE/REGULATORY LAW Leslie Schiff Schiff, Scheckman & White LLP 117 W. Landry St. Opelousas 337-942-9771

Bennett Anderson Jr. Anderson, Dozier, Blanda & Saltzman 2010 W. Pinhook Rd. Lafayette 337-233-3366 Richard Broussard Broussard & David, LLC 557 Jefferson St. Lafayette 337-233-2323 Larry Curtis Larry Curtis Personal Injury Attorney 300 Rue Beauregard Bldg. C, Lafayette 337-366-8317

Blake David Sr. Broussard & David, LLC 557 Jefferson St., Lafayette 337-233-2323 Robert Kallam Kean Miller LLP 600 Jefferson St. Suite 1101, Lafayette 337-235-2232

P. Morrow Jr. Morrow, Morrow, Ryan, Bassett & Haik 324 W. Landry St. Opelousas 337-948-4483

S. Perry Allen & Gooch 2000 Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite 400, Lafayette 337-291-1410

James Roy Domengeaux Wright Roy & Edwards, LLC 556 Jefferson St. Suite 500, Lafayette 337-291-4878 Bryan Scofield Scofield & Rivera, LLC 100 E. Vermilion St. Suite 301, Lafayette 337-235-5353

Randall Theunissen Allen & Gooch 2000 Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite 400, Lafayette 337-291-1240

Jonathan Woods Randazzo Giglio & Bailey LLC 900 E. St. Mary Blvd.

Suite 200, Lafayette 337-291-4900 ALTERNATE DISPUTE RESOLUTION

David Cook David S. Cook, APLC 313 Beverly Dr., Lafayette 337-234-4155 Thomas Juneau Sr. Juneau David, APLC 700 St. John St. Suite 501, Lafayette 337-905-3128

Randall Theunissen Allen & Gooch 2000 Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite 400, Lafayette 337-291-1240 APPELLATE PRACTICE

Marc Amy Jones Walker LLP 600 Jefferson St. Suite 1600, Lafayette 337-593-7662 James Gibson Gibson Law Partners, LLC 2448 Johnston St. Lafayette 337-761-6023

Paul Simon Gordon, Arata, Montgomery, Barnett, McCollam, Duplantis & Eagan, LLC 400 E. Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite 4200, Lafayette 337-237-0132 BANKING AND FINANCE LAW

Steven Durio Durio, McGoffin, Stagg & Ackermann, P.C. 220 Heymann Blvd.

Lafayette 337-233-0300 Steven Ramos Andrus Boudreaux 1301 Camellia Blvd.

Suite 401, Lafayette 337-984-9480

Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights/Insolvency and Reorganization Law Harold Domingue Jr. Onebane Law Firm 1200 Camellia Blvd.

Suite 300, Lafayette 337-237-2660

Douglas Truxillo Onebane Law Firm 1200 Camellia Blvd.

Suite 300, Lafayette 337-237-2660

Armistead Long Gordon, Arata, Montgomery, Barnett, McCollam, Duplantis & Eagan, LLC 400 E. Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite 4200, Lafayette 337-237-0132

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Gerald Schiff Gordon, Arata, Montgomery, Barnett, McCollam, Duplantis & Eagan, LLC 400 E. Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite 4200, Lafayette 337-237-0132 COMMERCIAL LITIGATION Clare Burke Sanchez Burke, L.L.C. 1200 Ryan St. Lake Charles 337-433-4405

Lamont Domingue Voorhies & Labbé 700 St. John St. P.O. Box 3527, Lafayette 337-232-9700 Jeremy Hebert Becker & Hebert, L.L.C. 201 Rue Beauregard Lafayette 337-233-1987

Emile Joseph Jr. Allen & Gooch 2000 Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite 400, Lafayette 337-291-1310 Charles Kreamer Gibson Law Partners, LLC 2448 Johnston St. Lafayette 337-761-6023 Steven Lanza Onebane Law Firm 1200 Camellia Blvd.

Suite 300, Lafayette 337-237-2660

Gary McGoffin Durio, McGoffin, Stagg & Ackermann, P.C 220 Heymann Blvd.

Lafayette 337-233-0300 William Monk Stockwell, Sievert, Viccellio, Clements & Shaddock, L.L.P. One Lakeside Plz., 127 West Broad St., Floor 4 Lake Charles 337-493-7232 Gary Russo Jones Walker LLP 600 Jefferson St. Suite 1600, Lafayette 337-593-7610

J. Veron Veron, Bice, Palermo & Wilson, LLC 721 Kirby St., Lake Charles 337-242-3051

COMMERCIAL TRANSACTIONS/LLS LAW Kyle Bacon Jones Walker LLP 600 Jefferson St. Suite 1600, Lafayette 337-593-7706

Jeremy Hebert Becker & Hebert, L.L.C. 201 Rue Beauregard Lafayette 337-233-1987 CONSTRUCTION LAW

Shane Hinch Hinch & Associates PLC 201 W. College St. Suite A, Lake Charles 337-222-3434

CORPORATE LAW James Davidson III Davidson Meaux Sonnier & McElligott LLP 810 S. Buchanan St. Lafayette 337-237-1660 John Everett Jr. Scofield, Gerald, Pohorelsky, Gallaugher & Landry 901 Lakeshore Dr. Suite 900, Lake Charles 337-433-9436 Joseph Giglio Jr. Liskow & Lewis 822 Harding St., Lafayette 337-267-2311

Joseph Placer Jr. Placer Law Firm, L.L.C 100 E. Vermilion St. Suite 202, Lafayette 337-237-2530

CRIMINAL DEFENSE NON WHITE-COLLAR Patricia Beasley Fuerst, Carrier & Ogden 127 W. Broad St. Suite 300, Lake Charles 337-436-3332 Joseph Burke Sanchez Burke, L.L.C. 1200 Ryan St. Lake Charles 337-433-4405

Todd Clemons Todd Clemons & Associates, APLC 1740 Ryan St. Lake Charles 337-477-0000 Donald Cleveland Donald D. Cleveland, APLC 113 W. Convent St. Lafayette 337-205-0319

William Goode The Goode Law Firm 812 Johnston St. P.O. Box 3366, Lafayette 337-234-0600 Shane Hinch Hinch & Associates PLC 201 W. College St. Suite A, Lake Charles 337-222-3434 Adam Johnson The Johnson Firm 1400 Ryan St., Lake Charles 337-427-8961

Thomas Lorenzi Lorenzi & Barnatt, L.L.C. 518 Pujo St., Lake Charles 337-513-0886 Walter Sanchez Sanchez Burke, L.L.C. 1200 Ryan St., Lake Charles 337-433-4405

Kevin Stockstill Stockstill White Collar Criminal Defense 300 Stewart St., Lafayette 337-262-0203 Glen Vamvoras Vamvoras Antoon 1111 Ryan St., Lake Charles 337-433-1621

CRIMINAL DEFENSE WHITE COLLAR Thomas Lorenzi Lorenzi & Barnatt, L.L.C. 518 Pujo St., Lake Charles 337-513-0886 Kevin Stockstill Stockstill White Collar Criminal Defense 300 Stewart St., Lafayette 337-262-0203

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS LAW Joel Babineaux Babineaux, Poché, Anthony & Slavich, L.L.C. 1201 Camellia Blvd.

Floor 3, Lafayette 337-984-2505 Troy Broussard Allen & Gooch 2000 Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite 400, Lafayette 337-291-1000 Laura Johnson Allen & Gooch 2000 Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite 400, Lafayette 337-291-1690 Robert Rowe Rowe Law Corporation 113 Oil Center Dr., Lafayette 337-266-9626 ENERGY LAW

Robert Cabes Milling Benson Woodward L.L.P. 101 La Rue France Suite 200, Lafayette 337-232-3929 Brian Capell Liskow & Lewis 822 Harding St., Lafayette 337-267-2368

Patrick Gray Johnson Gray McNamara, LLC 200 W. Congress St. Suite 900, Lafayette 337-412-6003

John Hughes Allen & Gooch 2000 Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite 400, Lafayette 337-291-1290

Samuel Masur Gordon, Arata, Montgomery, Barnett, McCollam, Duplantis & Eagan, LLC 400 E. Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite 4200, Lafayette 337-521-8843 Alan Meche Allen & Gooch 2000 Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite 400, Lafayette 337-291-1480 Patrick Ottinger Ottinger Hebert 1313 W. Pinhook Rd. Lafayette 337-232-2606

S. Perry Allen & Gooch 2000 Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite 400, Lafayette 337-291-1410 Jamie Rhymes Liskow & Lewis 822 Harding St., Lafayette 337-267-2360

April Rolen-Ogden Liskow & Lewis 822 Harding St., Lafayette 337-267-2330

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW D’Ann Penner Broussard & David, LLC 557 Jefferson St., Lafayette 337-233-2323 Alex Prochaska Jones Walker LLP 600 Jefferson St. Suite 1600, Lafayette 337-593-7616

Matthew Randazzo III Randazzo Giglio & Bailey LLC 900 E. St. Mary Blvd.

Suite 200, Lafayette 337-291-4900 Gary Russo Jones Walker LLP 600 Jefferson St. Suite 1600, Lafayette 337-593-7610 FAMILY LAW

Clare Burke Sanchez Burke, L.L.C. 1200 Ryan St., Lake Charles 337-433-4405

Robert Cuccia Law Office of Robert Cuccia 311 Goode St., Houma 985-873-8595

Randy Fuerst Fuerst, Carrier & Ogden 127 W. Broad St. Suite 300, Lake Charles 337-436-3332 Valerie Garrett Valerie Gotch Garrett, APLC 701 N Pierce St. Suite B, Lafayette 337-366-0957 Rachel Godley Rachel B. Godley, Attorney at Law, LLC P.O. Box 1077, Youngsville 337-456-3457

Frank Granger Frank Granger, APLC 1135 Lake Shore Dr. Floor 6, Lake Charles 337-439-2732 John Green Jr. Law Offices of John Green Jr. 1135 Hodges St. Lake Charles 337-990-0060 Becky Hunter Hunter Hunter and Sonnier Law Firm 1807 Lake St., Lake Charles 337-436-1600

Philip Kobetz Law Office of Philip C. Kobetz 120 Representative Row Lafayette 337-291-1990 Jack Miller Miller, Mitchell & Luquette LTD 415 N. Parkerson Ave. Crowley 337-788-0768

Mark Owens Edwards-Bowie-Owens 2901 Johnston St. Suite 206, Lafayette 337-237-0492

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Dona Renegar Veazey Felder & Renegar LLC 2 Flagg Pl., Suite 3 Lafayette 337-446-2709 Walter Sanchez Sanchez Burke, L.L.C. 1200 Ryan St., Lake Charles 337-433-4405

Danna Schwab The Schwab Law Firm 7847 W. Main St., Houma 985-262-3778 Alyson Vamvoras Antoon Vamvoras Antoon 1111 Ryan St., Lake Charles 337-433-1621

Chris Villemarette Chris Villemarette, Trial Lawyer 3404 Moss St., Lafayette 337-232-3100 GOVERNMENT RELATIONS PRACTICE Samuel Gabb Plauché, Smith & Nieset, LLC 1123 Pithon St., Lake Charles 337-436-0522

Tyron Picard The Picard Group 309 Settlers Trace Blvd.

Suite 202, Lafayette 337-989-0071 HEALTH CARE LAW

Lauren Ambler Sullivan Stolier & Schulze 1042 Camellia Blvd.

Suite 2, Lafayette 337-233-6210 Nadia de la Houssaye Jones Walker LLP 600 Jefferson St. Suite 1600, Lafayette 337-593-7634

Dawn Fuqua Gachassin Law Firm 400 E. Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite 6100, Lafayette 337-235-4576 Nicholas Gachassin III Gachassin Law Firm 400 E. Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite 6100, Lafayette 337-235-4576 Michael Schulze Sullivan Stolier & Schulze 1042 Camellia Blvd.

Suite 2, Lafayette 337-233-6210 IMMIGRATION LAW

Anna Grand Gibson Law Partners, LLC 2448 Johnston St., Lafayette 337-761-6250

Holly Lamarche Gordon McKernan Injury Attorneys 2505 Verot School Rd. Lafayette 337-347-6517 INSURANCE LAW

Todd Ammons Stockwell, Sievert, Viccellio, Clements & Shaddock, L.L.P. One Lakeside Plz., 127 West Broad St., Floor 4 Lake Charles 337-493-7268 46

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Michael Corry Sr. Briney Foret Corry, LLP 413 Travis St. Suite 200, Lafayette 337-456-9817 Robert David Jr. Juneau David, APLC 700 St. John St. Suite 501, Lafayette 337-905-3128

Charles Foret Briney Foret Corry, LLP 413 Travis St. Suite 200, Lafayette 337-456-9819 David Fraser Fraser Wheeler & Courtney LLP 4350 Nelson Rd. Lake Charles 337-478-8595

Ian MacDonald Jones Walker LLP 600 Jefferson St. Suite 1600, Lafayette 337-593-7617 James Pate NeunerPate 1001 W. Pinhook Rd. Suite 200, Lafayette 337-272-0337

D’Ann Penner Broussard & David, LLC 557 Jefferson St., Lafayette 337-233-2323 Eric Roan Plauché, Smith & Nieset, LLC 1123 Pithon St., Lake Charles 337-436-0522

Michael Schwartzberg The Roach Law Firm 2917 Ryan St., Lake Charles 337-240-9760 Frank Walker Jr. Plauché, Smith & Nieset, LLC 1123 Pithon St., Lake Charles 337-436-0522 David Way Oliver & Way, LLC 100 Rue Bastille, Lafayette 337-988-3500

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW Blair Suire Jones Walker LLP 600 Jefferson St. Suite 1600 Lafayette 337-593-7648

Robert Waddell Jones Walker LLP 600 Jefferson St. Suite 1600, Lafayette 337-593-7623

LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT LAW Joel Babineaux Babineaux, Poché, Anthony & Slavich, L.L.C. 1201 Camellia Blvd.

Floor 3, Lafayette 337-984-2505 John Bradford Stockwell, Sievert, Viccellio, Clements & Shaddock, L.L.P. One Lakeside Plz., 127 West Broad St., Floor 4 Lake Charles 337-493-7224 APRIL/MAY 2022

Robert David Jr. Juneau David, APLC 700 St. John St. Suite 501, Lafayette 337-905-3128

Kenneth St. Pé Kenneth D. St. Pé, APLC 311 W. University Ave. Suite A, Lafayette 337-534-4043 James Sudduth III Sudduth & Associates, LLC 1109 Pithon St., Lake Charles 833-783-3884

LEGAL MALPRACTICE LAW James Gibson Gibson Law Partners, LLC 2448 Johnston St., Lafayette 337-761-6023 Paul Hebert Ottinger Hebert 1313 W. Pinhook Rd. Lafayette 337-232-2606 Whitney Ikerd Webre & Associates 2901 Johnston St. Suite 307, Lafayette 337-237-5051

Leslie Schiff Schiff, Scheckman & White LLP 117 W. Landry St. Opelousas 337-942-9771

Alan Stewart Gibson Law Partners, LLC 2448 Johnston St. Lafayette 337-761-6023

MASS TORT LITIGATION/ CLASS ACTIONS Richard Arsenault Neblett, Beard & Arsenault 2220 Bonaventure Ct. Alexandria 318-561-2500

Digger Earles Laborde Earles Law Firm 1901 Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite A, Lafayette 337-717-1087 Thomas Filo Cox, Cox, Filo, Camel & Wilson L.L.C. 723 Broad St., Lake Charles 337-436-6611

Christopher Ieyoub Plauché, Smith & Nieset, LLC 1123 Pithon St., Lake Charles 337-436-0522

John Jeansonne Jr. Jeansonne & Remondet, LLC 200 W. Congress St. Suite 1100, Lafayette 337-237-4370 Amy Lee Johnson Gray McNamara, LLC 200 W. Congress St. Suite 900, Lafayette 337-412-6003

Matthew Lundy Lundy Lundy Soileau & South, LLP 501 Broad St., Lake Charles 337-439-0707

Patrick Morrow Morrow, Morrow, Ryan, Bassett & Haik 324 W. Landry St. Opelousas 337-948-4483

James Roy Domengeaux Wright Roy & Edwards, LLC 556 Jefferson St. Suite 500, Lafayette 337-291-4878 Elwood Stevens Jr. Domengeaux Wright Roy & Edwards, LLC 556 Jefferson St. Suite 500, Lafayette 337-291-4878 Richard Wilson Cox, Cox, Filo, Camel & Wilson L.L.C. 723 Broad St., Lake Charles 337-436-6611

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LAW John Bradford Stockwell, Sievert, Viccellio, Clements & Shaddock, L.L.P. One Lakeside Plz., 127 West Broad St. Floor 4, Lake Charles 337-493-7224

Alan Breaud Breaud & Meyers, APLC 420 Oil Center Dr. Lafayette 337-266-2200

Roger Burgess Baggett, McCall, Burgess, Watson Gaughan & Andrus, L.L.C. 3006 Country Club Rd. Lake Charles 337-478-8888 David Cook David S. Cook, APLC 313 Beverly Dr., Lafayette 337-234-4155 Michael Hodgkins Veron, Bice, Palermo & Wilson, LLC 721 Kirby St., Lake Charles 337-242-3051 Whitney Ikerd Webre & Associates 2901 Johnston St. Suite 307, Lafayette 337-237-5051 Marc Judice Judice & Adley, PLC 926 Coolidge Blvd.

Lafayette 337-235-2405

Philip Kobetz Law Office of Philip C. Kobetz 120 Representative Row Lafayette 337-291-1990 Christopher Lee Christopher T. Lee, Attorney at Law 311 W. University Ave. Lafayette 337-232-2390

William Parker III Allen & Gooch 2000 Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite 400, Lafayette 337-291-1270

Sera Russell III The Law Office of Sera H. Russell, III 111 Mercury St., Lafayette 337-205-9786

Julie Savoy Gachassin Law Firm 400 E. Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite 6100, Lafayette 337-235-4576 Kenneth St. Pé Kenneth D. St. Pé, APLC 311 W. University Ave. Suite A, Lafayette 337-534-4043

Katie Wattigny Galloway, Johnson, Tompkins, Burr & Smith 3861 Ambassador Caffery Pkwy., Suite 300 Lafayette 337-735-1760 Scott Webre Webre & Associates 2901 Johnston St. Suite 307, Lafayette 337-237-5051

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS LAW Kyle Bacon Jones Walker LLP 600 Jefferson St. Suite 1600, Lafayette 337-593-7706 Steven Lanza Onebane Law Firm 1200 Camellia Blvd.

Suite 300, Lafayette 337-237-2660

Samuel Masur Gordon, Arata, Montgomery, Barnett, McCollam, Duplantis & Eagan, LLC 400 E. Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite 4200, Lafayette 337-521-8843 William Stubbs Jr. Stubbs & Hightower, L.L.C. 201 Rue Beauregard Lafayette 337-233-9755

NATURAL RESOURCES LAW Glenn Alexander Glenn W. Alexander, LLC 10615 Hwy. 384 Lake Charles 337-794-8607 Richard Gerard Jr. Scofield, Gerard, Pohorelsky, Gallaugher & Landry 901 Lakeshore Dr. Suite 900, Lake Charles 337-433-9436 James Mansfield III Liskow & Lewis 822 Harding St., Lafayette 337-267-2340 Terrence McCay Kean Miller LLP 4865 Ihles Rd., Lake Charles 337-439-0490 OIL AND GAS LAW

Glenn Alexander Glenn W. Alexander, LLC 10615 Hwy. 384 Lake Charles 337-794-8607 George Arceneaux III Liskow & Lewis 822 Harding St. Lafayette 337-267-2332 David Bruchhaus Mudd Bruchhaus & Keating, LLC 422 E. College St. Suite B, Lake Charles 337-562-2327

Turner Brumby Veron, Bice, Palermo & Wilson, LLC 721 Kirby St Lake Charles 337-242-3051 Robert Cabes Milling Benson Woodward L.L.P. 101 La Rue France Suite 200, Lafayette 337-232-3929

Bob Duplantis Gordon, Arata, Montgomery, Barnett, McCollam, Duplantis & Eagan, LLC 400 E. Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite 4200, Lafayette 337-237-0132 Gregory Duplantis Gordon, Arata, Montgomery, Barnett, McCollam, Duplantis & Eagan, LLC 400 E. Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite 4200, Lafayette 337-237-0132 J. Fussell Jr. Ottinger Hebert 1313 W. Pinhook Rd. Lafayette 337-232-2606 Patrick Gray Johnson Gray McNamara, LLC 200 W. Congress St. Suite 900, Lafayette 337-412-6003 Valerie Guidry Ottinger Hebert 1313 W Pinhook Rd Lafayette 337-232-2606

Matthew Keating Mudd Bruchhaus & Keating, LLC 422 E. College St. Suite B, Lake Charles 337-562-2327

Samuel Masur Gordon, Arata, Montgomery, Barnett, McCollam, Duplantis & Eagan, LLC 400 E. Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite 4200, Lafayette 337-521-8843 Matthew Randazzo III Randazzo Giglio & Bailey LLC 900 E. St. Mary Blvd.

Suite 200, Lafayette 337-291-4900 Jamie Rhymes Liskow & Lewis 822 Harding St., Lafayette 337-267-2360

Lawrence Simon Jr. Liskow & Lewis 822 Harding St., Lafayette 337-267-2323

Paul Simon Gordon, Arata, Montgomery, Barnett, McCollam, Duplantis & Eagan, LLC 400 E. Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite 4200, Lafayette 337-237-0132 PERSONAL INJURY LITIGATION

Bennett Anderson Jr. Anderson, Dozier, Blanda & Saltzman 2010 W. Pinhook Rd. Lafayette 337-233-3366

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John Barron O’Pry Law Firm 2014 W. Pinhook Rd. Suite 507, Lafayette 337-236-6779

Jere Bice Veron, Bice, Palermo & Wilson, LLC 721 Kirby St., Lake Charles 337-242-3051

Nicholas Blanda Anderson, Dozier, Blanda & Saltzman 2010 W. Pinhook Rd. Lafayette 337-233-3366 Richard Broussard Broussard & David, LLC 557 Jefferson St., Lafayette 337-233-2323

Lucas Colligan Gaar Law Firm 114 Representative Row Lafayette 337-366-0982 Larry Curtis Larry Curtis Personal Injury Attorney 300 Rue Beauregard Bldg. C, Lafayette 337-366-8317

Blake David Sr. Broussard & David, LLC 557 Jefferson St., Lafayette 337-233-2323

James Domengeaux Jr. Davidson Meaux Sonnier & McElligott LLP 810 S. Buchanan St. Lafayette 337-237-1660 Thomas Filo Cox, Cox, Filo, Camel & Wilson L.L.C. 723 Broad St., Lake Charles 337-436-6611

James Gates Morrow, Gates & Morrow, LLC 613 S. Main St., Opelousas 337-942-6529 Stephen Gaubert The Law Office of Stephen C. Gaubert 600 Jefferson Blvd.

Suite 1202, Lafayette 337-354-3000

John Graf Anderson, Dozier, Blanda & Saltzman 2010 W. Pinhook Rd. Lafayette 337-233-3366 Steven Hale Hale Law Firm 1735 Ryan St., Lake Charles 337-426-1071

Patrick Juneau Juneau David, APLC 1200 Camellia Blvd.

Suite 202, Lafayette 337-269-0052 Cliffe Laborde III Mahtook & LaFleur 600 Jefferson St. Floor 10, Lafayette 337-266-2189

Miles Matt Law Offices of Matt & Allen 1026 St. John St., Lafayette 337-237-1000

Matthew McGlathery McGlathery Law, LLC 517 W. College St. Lake Charles 337-465-2119

Jerome Moroux Broussard & David, LLC 557 Jefferson St., Lafayette 337-233-2323

John Michael Morrow Jr. Morrow, Gates & Morrow, LLC 613 S. Main St., Opelousas 337-942-6529 Patrick Morrow Morrow, Morrow, Ryan, Bassett & Haik 324 W. Landry St. Opelousas 337-948-4483

William Morrow Morrow, Gates & Morrow, LLC 613 S. Main St., Opelousas 337-942-6529 Donovan “Donnie” O’Pry II O’Pry Law Firm 2014 W. Pinhook Rd. Suite 507, Lafayette 337-236-6779

Mark Owens Edwards-Bowie-Owens 2901 Johnston St. Suite 206, Lafayette 337-237-0492 Edwin Preis Jr. Preis PLC 102 Versailles Blvd.

Suite 400, Lafayette 337-266-6239

Keith Saltzman Anderson, Dozier, Blanda & Saltzman 2010 W. Pinhook Rd. Lafayette 337-233-3366 Michael Schwartzberg The Roach Law Firm 2917 Ryan St., Lake Charles 337-240-9760

W. Hale Hale Law Firm 1735 Ryan St., Lake Charles 337-426-1071

Elwood Stevens Jr. Domengeaux Wright Roy & Edwards, LLC 556 Jefferson St. Suite 500, Lafayette 337-291-4878

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Kenneth Hebert Broussard & David, LLC 557 Jefferson St., Lafayette 337-233-2323 ACADIANA PROFILE

Randall Theunissen Allen & Gooch 2000 Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite 400, Lafayette 337-291-1240

J. Veron Veron, Bice, Palermo & Wilson, LLC 721 Kirby St., Lake Charles 337-242-3051 Jason Welborn Welborn & Hargett 1540 W. Pinhook Rd. Lafayette 337-234-5533

Richard Wilson Cox, Cox, Filo, Camel & Wilson L.L.C. 723 Broad St., Lake Charles 337-436-6611 Product Liability Litigation

Nicholas Blanda Anderson, Dozier, Blanda & Saltzman 2010 W. Pinhook Rd. Lafayette 337-233-3366

Roger Burgess Baggett, McCall, Burgess, Watson Gaughan & Andrus, L.L.C. 3006 Country Club Rd. Lake Charles 337-478-8888 James Sudduth III Sudduth & Associates, LLC 1109 Pithon St., Lake Charles 833-783-3884 RAILROAD LAW

Kenneth DeJean The Law Offices of Kenneth W. DeJean 417 W. University Ave. Lafayette 337-235-5294

Kyle Gideon Davidson Meaux Sonnier & McElligott LLP 810 S. Buchanan St. Lafayette 337-237-1660 Elena Knezek Knezek Law 95 Woods Crossing Suite 100, Lafayette 337-266-2233

John McElligott Jr. Davidson Meaux Sonnier & McElligott LLP 810 S. Buchanan St. Lafayette 337-237-1660 REAL ESTATE LAW

Raymond Allain Sr. Allain & Allain 1701 Main St. P.O. Box 467, Jeanerette 337-276-5004

Harold Block Block and Bouterie 408 W. 3rd St., Thibodaux 985-447-6767 Michael Carleton Chaffe McCall, LLP 4021 Bayouwood Ln. Lake Charles 337-419-1825

Jonathan Davis Turnkey Title 91 Settlers Trace Blvd.

Bldg. 1, Lafayette 337-326-4830

Billy Domingue Liskow & Lewis 822 Harding St., Lafayette 337-267-2342

John Everett Jr. Scofield, Gerald, Pohorelsky, Gallaugher & Landry 901 Lakeshore Dr. Suite 900, Lake Charles 337-433-9436 Billy Loftin Jr. Loftin & LeBlanc, LLC 410 E. College St. Suite A, Lake Charles 337-310-4300

John Pohorelsky Scofield, Gerard, Pohorelsky, Gallaugher & Landry 901 Lakeshore Dr. Suite 900, Lake Charles 337-433-9436 SECURITIES/CAPITAL MARKETS LAW

Scott Chenevert Fishman Haygood L.L.P. 201 St. Charles Ave. Suite 4600, New Orleans 225-706-4060 TAX LAW

Angela Bryson Bryson Law Firm, L.L.C. 515 W. Convent St. Lafayette 337-233-4210 Cary Bryson Bryson Law Firm, LLC 515 W. Convent St. Lafayette 337-233-4210

Ted Hoyt Hoyt, Stanford, & Wynne LLC 315 S. College Rd. Suite 165, Lafayette 337-234-1012 Lawrence Lewis III Onebane Law Firm 1200 Camellia Blvd.

Suite 300, Lafayette 337-237-2660

Joseph Placer Jr. Placer Law Firm, L.L.C 100 E Vermilion St. Suite 202, Lafayette 337-237-2530

Russell Stutes Jr. Stutes & Lavergne, LLC 600 Broad St. Lake Charles 337-433-0022

Chris Verret Chris A. Verret, Attorney at Law 325 Audubon Blvd.

Lafayette 337-237-4600 James Watson James A. Watson Attorney 3403 B Patrick St. Lake Charles 337-474-4886

Jack Wheeler Fraser Wheeler & Courtney LLP 4350 Nelson Rd. Lake Charles 337-478-8595 ext. 207

H. White III Stockwell, Sievert, Viccellio, Clements & Shaddock, L.L.P. One Lakeside Plz., 127 West Broad St. Floor 4, Lake Charles 337-493-7294 TRANSPORTATION LAW Mike Adley Judice & Adley, PLC 926 Coolidge Blvd.

Lafayette 337-235-2405

Alan Breaud Breaud & Meyers, APLC 420 Oil Center Dr. Lafayette 337-266-2200 Elena Knezek Knezek Law 96 Woods Crossing Suite 100, Lafayette 337-266-2233

John McElligott Jr. Davidson Meaux Sonnier & McElligott LLP 810 S. Buchanan St. Lafayette 337-237-1660 Bryan Scofield Scofield & Rivera, LLC 100 E. Vermilion St. Suite 301, Lafayette 337-235-5353 TRUSTS AND ESTATES

William Babin Law Offices of William T. Babin 405 W. Convent St. Lafayette 337-232-7747

Theresa Barnatt Lorenzi & Barnatt, L.L.C. 518 Pujo St., Lake Charles 337-513-0886 L. Cancienne Jr. Cancienne Law Firm 515 Barrow St., Houma 985-876-5656

Megan Clark Galloway, Johnson, Tompkins, Burr & Smith 3861 Ambassador Caffery Pkwy.

Suite 300, Lafayette 337-735-1760

John Jewell Jewell & Jewell Attorneys At Law 143 E. Main St. Suite 3, New Roads 225-638-3311 Stephen Jewell Jewell & Jewell Attorneys At Law 143 E. Main St. Suite 3, New Roads 225-638-3311 Lawrence Lewis III Onebane Law Firm 1200 Camellia Blvd.

Suite 300, Lafayette 337-237-2660

Gregory Logan The Logan Law Firm, LLC 700 Jefferson St. Lafayette 337-283-4008 Robert Rowe Rowe Law Corporation 113 Oil Center Dr. Lafayette 337-266-9626

David Sigler Sigler, Arabie & Cannon 630 Kirby St., Lake Charles 337-439-2033 Russell Stutes Jr. Stutes & Lavergne, LLC 600 Broad St., Lake Charles 337-433-0022 H. White III Stockwell, Sievert, Viccellio, Clements & Shaddock, L.L.P. One Lakeside Plz., 127 West Broad St., Floor 4 Lake Charles 337-493-7294 WORKERS COMPENSATION LAW

Glenn Armentor The Glenn Armentor Law Corporation 300 Stewart St., Lafayette 337-233-1471

Adolph Curet III Supple, Cremaldi & Curet LLP 200 Willow St. Franklin 337-828-5480 Shannon Dartez The Glenn Armentor Law Corporation 300 Stewart St. Lafayette 337-233-1471 Rémy Jardell The Law Office of Rémy A.M. Jardell 625 St. John St., Lafayette 337-267-0985 Charles Landry Charles Benjamin Landry, APLC 1309 Lafayette St. Lafayette 337-232-9806

Corey Meaux Parker & Landry, LLC 4023 Ambassador Caffery Pkwy.

Suite 320, Lafayette 337-362-1603

Stephen Morrow Sr. Morrow, Gates & Morrow, LLC 613 S. Main St., Opelousas 337-942-6529 Donovan “Donnie” O’Pry II O’Pry Law Firm 2014 W. Pinhook Rd. Suite 507, Lafayette 337-236-6779

Michael Parker Parker & Landry, LLC 4023 Ambassador Caffery Pkwy.

Suite 320, Lafayette 337-849-1865

Eric Waltner Allen & Gooch 2000 Kaliste Saloom Rd. Suite 400, Lafayette 337-291-1400

Jonathan Woods Randazzo Giglio & Bailey LLC 900 E. St. Mary Blvd.

Suite 200, Lafayette 337-291-4900

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SPONSORED

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RECET T E S DE CO C K TA I LS

Sweet Thang of Spring Hideaway’s new sweet-andsour spring sipper tips the classic sour ratio with French liqueur, Peruvian grape brandy and herbaceous Scandinavian spirits

by Lisa LeBlanc-Berry photo by Romero & Romero

The Lafayet te music-club scene, like its patrons, rarely sits still. Hideaway on Lee has emerged as a homey new hangout in the fertile downtown landscape.

Converted from a circa 1905 residence leased by musicians, Hideaway’s growing popularity as a nostalgic cocktail bar/restaurant/listening room/dance hall is led by diverse musical offerings ranging from live jazz, bluegrass and soul to Cajun, Zydeco and country. Owners David and Line Livingston (industry pros) and Grammywinning accordionist Wilson Savoy (Pine Leaf Boys) are consequently opening Hideaway Hall, a larger concert and event venue in Freetown at 422 Refinery Street later this year.

Most nights, patrons are drawn to the intimate, rustic outdoor stage and Hideaway’s seasonallydriven, original craft cocktails that give a nod to stories behind the drinks. Line (a native of Denmark) and bar manager Jolie Meaux of Lafayette have created a new spring cocktail, Sweet Thang and Pisco, inspired by the up-tempo, carousing song “Sweet Thang and Cisco” recorded by Nat Stuckey in 1969.

“It’s a twist on a New York sour for the spring,” Line says. “The lighter pisco sour brings about the days when herbaceous fruit salads and sangrias start to grace our tables. The combined aquavit and elderflower from my culture and the delicate sugar snap pea syrup inspired by Jolie’s childhood gardens is a good representation of two women who have broadened their experiences but like to keep their roots close.”

Sweet Thang’s pisco, the grape brandy of Peru, is emerging from the mist of history and bringing rich freshness to American cocktails. Aquavit, the longtime herbaceous outlier from Scandinavia has tended to get lost at local bars, but is now making waves. Blended with St. Germain French liqueur (made with fresh elderflowers hand-picked once a year in late spring), lemon, sugar snap pea simple syrup and egg whites, Sweet Thang and Pisco is a refreshing, frothy cocktail with a supple mouth feel and a long, elegant finish. ■

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HOME BAR

Sweet Thang and Pisco

1

TO GET THE RECIPE FOR THE SUGAR SNAP PEA SYRUPS AND TO SEE A VIDEO OF THE COCKTAIL CREATION VISIT ACADIANAPROFILE.COM

Shake 1 ounce Barsol pisco, 1 ounce Linie aquavit, ½ ounce St. Germain liqueur, ½ ounce Laird’s apple brandy, 1 ounce egg white, ¾ ounce sugar snap pea syrup, and ¾ ounce lemon juice with ice. Strain into a rocks glass over ice.

2

Gently pour 1 ounce red wine on the back of a spoon on top. Garnish with a split pea pod.

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D ÎNE R DE HO R S

Shock and Aww Yeah The Steamboat Warehouse in Washington is celebrated by diners and media alike

by Eric Cormier photos by Joseph Vidrine

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People who love to indulge themselves on meats, seafood and vegetables prepared with strong Cajun-inspired influences know they are at a happy place when visiting the Steamboat Warehouse restaurant in Washington.

What diners may not know is that the shock and awe they experience eating food prepared in the restaurant’s kitchen is equally shared by the culinary maestro responsible for the creations.

Redfish Lafourche: Fresh redfish filet broiled golden in lemon butter & garlic, set on a bed of blue crab & Gulf shrimp stuffing, then drizzled with a creamy florentine sauce.

T RY T H I S !

Savory Sampling

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Stuffed Bell Pepper An awardwinning appetizer that melds a veggie, seafood and a cream sauce.

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Steamboat Gang Plank One of the restaurant’s standard menu items that never loses its appeal.

A ribeye, bread and crawfish étouffée ... the foundation of a stupendous dinner.

Port Barre resident Chef Jason Huguet probably pinches himself every day after waking in order to prove his life is not a dream.

For starters, at the age of 30 Huguet became the owner of the rustic warehouse (constructed in 1823) restaurant. Since then, the chef has grown a loyal customer following, created over 30 award-winning dishes, been featured in numerous broadcast and print media outlets and established a wonderful staff.

As a side note ... the chef started working in the same restaurant as a teenage busboy in the 1990s.

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Seared Tuna Chef Huguet likes this dish a lot. Seared tuna finished with a neat drizzle of blue crab cream sauce.

This is going to get a foodie’s attention.

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(left) Sidesaddle Angels: Four jumbo shrimp stuffed with oysters, wrapped in applewood smoked bacon and fried crispy golden, served with homemade New Orleans-style remoulade sauce. (right) Chef Jason Huguet

“A lot of people ask me how soon did I know I wanted to be a chef and I say it is almost like something happened and the career chose me. I never said when I was growing up ‘I want to be a chef’ ... it just happened. It is a blessing how it all happened from beginning to end,” Huguet said.

He is not being flippant in explaining what seems like an easy career path. Things just fell into place and Huguet worked hard the rest of the way.

The guy caught the eyes of established chefs and restaurateurs early in his career. Graduated top of his class in 2000 from the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute in Thibodeaux. Worked at K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen in New Orleans with kitchen stops in Texas before coming back to his culinary home at the Steamboat.

Since taking over the eatery, the menu advertises Huguets list of hits.

For instance, the Sidesaddle Angels are an appetizer that won Huguet a medal at a food contest. The dish consists of shrimp stuffed with oysters, wrapped in applewood smoked bacon, and then fried and plated with a remoulade sauce.

A fan of seafood, Huguet’s Redfish Lafourche is a flavorful dish featuring the salt water fish broiled in lemon butter and garlic then placed on a bed of blue crab and Gulf shrimp stuffing which is all topped with a florentine sauce.

Huguet notes that most of the dishes on the menu have an individual story. One of which stands out to him is on the appetizer list.

“The Black Forest Tenders are the result of a patron. He came in one night and asked me to cut up a filet mignon and fry the pieces,” Huguet recalls.

What started out as a questionable request, is now a top seller.

Another menu grabbing dish, that happens to be one of Huguet’s favorite to prepare, is the Softshell Cypremort.

Huguet loves to eat soft shell crabs, and putting this prize-winning dish together gives him goosebumps. The crab is stuffed with shrimp and crab meat, deep fried and served on angel hair pasta with an herb cream sauce drizzled on top and finished with shredded Parmesan cheese.

Has shock and awe registered in your mind yet? Imagine what is going on in Chef Huguet’s mind and spirit as he relishes all the fun, flavor and happy customers.

It’s like a never-ending dream for all involved. ■

Steamboat Warehouse Restaurant 525 N. Main St. Washington 337-826-7227 steamboatwarehouse.com

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DE L A C U IS INE

Sizzle Season Flank steak with veggies offers flavorful simplicity

by Marcelle Bienvenu photo & styling by Eugenia Uhl

Spring is not the only thing in the air. Last evening, a gentle breeze carried the aroma of food cooking on grills.

My nose tingled as I tried to determine who was cooking what. Someone was definitely flipping hamburgers. Then a whiff — that I think came from down the bayou — of shrimp possibly bathed in lemon butter. Somewhere to my rear, a great cloud of blue smoke indicated someone was tending chicken and possibly a slab or two of pork ribs.

It’s that time of year when everyone is eager to gather in the yard, on the patio, around the pool or on the deck. Any occasion is a reason for a get-together. These days, just about anything can and does find its way to the grill — shrimp, fish, chicken, steaks, burgers, brisket and even a wide assortment of vegetables.

Grilling is probably one of the healthiest methods of food preparation since most of the fat content is burned off over the hot coals and fresh herbs and spices are all that is needed to bring out the true tastes and flavors.

There’s just nothing better, as far as I’m concerned, than something cooked outdoors over an open fire. ■

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MAIN COURSE

ON THE SIDE

D E S S E RT

Marinated Flank Steak with Guacamole

Squash and Pepper Kabobs

Peach Crisp

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

½ cup olive oil ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice 2 tablespoons soy sauce

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro leaves

1½ pounds yellow squash (or zucchini)

1 medium-size yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 medium green bell pepper

2 tablespoons chopped garlic 2 tablespoons seeded and chopped jalapeno peppers salt, freshly ground black pepper and cayenne to taste 1 flank steak, about 1½ pounds 2 tablespoons chopped green onions (green and white parts) 2 medium-size Hass avocados, peeled, pitted and diced 1 medium-size tomato, diced sour cream COMBINE oil, ½ cup of lime juice, soy sauce, ¼ cup of cilantro, yellow onion, garlic and 1 tablespoon of jalapenos in a large shallow dish.

Season with salt and peppers.

Put flank in marinade, cover and refrigerate for three to six hours, turning once or twice.

PREPARE grill. Remove flank from marinade. Grill for five to seven minutes, depending on desired doneness, on each side.

Other sides can be as easy as roasted corn-on-the-cob, thick slices of tomatoes dusted with sea salt and cracked black pepper and sprinkled with crumbled feta and fresh herbs. Cool slices of cucumbers tossed with bits of red onion and drizzled with vinegar is also a refreshing favorite for this time of year.

Preparations can be simple and quick. Fresh vegetables from your garden or roadside stands can be grilled on skewers or in wire baskets.

MEANWHILE, combine green onions, avocados, tomatoes, remaining lime juice, cilantro and jalapenos in a small bowl and mix gently. Season with salt and black pepper.

WHEN READY TO SERVE,

slice meat across the grain into thin strips. Serve with guacamole and garnish with sour cream.

1 medium red bell pepper 1⁄3 cup olive oil 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1 teaspoon minced garlic 2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme or ½ teaspoon dried thyme ½ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 10 to 12 large button mushrooms, cleaned and stemmed CUT squash (or zucchini) crosswise into one-inch slices.

Halve green and red bell peppers and remove seeds and stems. Cut into one-inch squares.

It’s a little early for Ruston peaches, but any kind of peaches will work for this dessert.

MAKES ABOUT 6 SERVINGS

4 cups sliced peaches ¾ cup sugar ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 stick cold butter, cut into chips 6 scoops vanilla ice cream PREHEAT the oven to 375 F. COMBINE peaches with 1⁄3 cup of sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl and toss to coat evenly. Put mixture into an eight-inch square baking pan.

Set aside.

COMBINE flour and remaining sugar in a bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle mixture over peaches and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool slightly. Serve with scoops of ice cream.

IN A LARGE BOWL, whisk together oil, vinegar, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper. Add vegetables and toss to coat evenly. Let stand for about 30 minutes.

PREPARE THE GRILL. Remove vegetables from marinade.

Reserve marinade. Thread squash, pepper and mushrooms alternately onto skewers. Arrange on rack and grill, turning occasionally, and brushing with reserved marinade, until lightly browned, about 8 to 10 minutes.

TIP IF YOU WANT TO TRY YOUR HAND AT GRILLING FRUIT, TRY THIS: CUT A FRESH PINEAPPLE INTO LARGE SPEARS AND SPRINKLE WITH A LITTLE BROWN SUGAR. GRILL FOR A FEW MINUTES, THEN SERVE WITH ICE CREAM OR YOGURT.

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EN FRA N Ç A I S, S’I L VO U S P L A Î T

Charlene Richard Un grand pas vers le Bon Dieu par David Cheramie photo par Tiffani Matt

Au milieu de la prairie du sud-ouest de la Louisiane, dans le village de Richard, se trouve un petit cimetière, sur la rue Charlene. Il est devenu, au fils des ans, un lieu de pèlerinage pour celles et ceux en quête d’une intercession divine. Enterrée là est une jeune fille, morte à l’âge de douze ans, que plusieurs fidèles considèrent comme une sainte. Pour la population catholique de la région, le nom de Charlene Richard est synonyme d’une croyance à toute épreuve et source de fierté cadienne. Les histoires de guérisons prodigieuses, sa dévotion à Sainte-Thérèse de Lisieux et sa foi inébranlable face au diagnostic d’une leucémie douloureuse 64

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et fatale sont connues localement depuis son l’aspect culturel du projet. « Ce fut un honneur décès en 1959. Selon les compagnons de ses d’avoir été invité à participer à la préparation derniers jours à l’hôpital, les patients pour du livre de 300 pages concernant l’histoire de la lesquels elle a prié ont eu des rétablissements famille Richard en général et la généalogie de inexpliqués. Elle n’y est restée que quinze jours, Charlene en particulier. Puisqu’elle est connue mais ce court séjour a scellé sa réputation sous le nom de “Sainte cadienne”, j’ai dû préd’enfant miraculeux. Ce n’était qu’au cours des parer une explication détaillée pour le Vatican années 70 et 80, avec la publication d’articles et de ce que cela signifie d’être Cadien. » À la fin de deux livres que sa vie a commencé à attirer de 2021, un nonce papal, le père Luis Escalante, plus d’attention des croyants. Trente ans après a rendu visite à une exposition dédiée à Charla mise dans sa dernière demeure, une messe en lene au Musée acadien d’Erath géré par Perrin. plein air a été célébrée en honneur de la « Petite Étant donné que Charlene aurait 75 ans Sainte cadienne » à laquelle 4 000 personnes aujourd’hui, ce dossier avance avec célérité. ont assisté. Cet événement était mentionné par Comme Sainte Thérèse de Lisieux—elle la presse et la télévision locales, et même CNN. aussi morte jeune, canonisée 28 ans après Dès lors, sa renommée n’a fait que croître bien et désignée, après Jeanne d’Arc, comme la au-delà des confins de la paroisse d’Acadie. deuxième sainte patronne de la France—elle Dans le langage courant, on nomme saint est devenue le symbole de la foi catholique quiconque qui a un air de sainteté. Pour l’Église de notre région. Même sans la désignation catholique, ce n’est évidemment pas si simple. officielle, on la considère déjà comme notre Le processus de canonisation est long et ardu. sainte patronne. En franchissant ce grand Il peut prendre des décennies, pas vers le Bon Dieu, Charlene voire des siècles. En janvier 2020, peut officiellement devenir, l’évêque Deshotel a formellement selon la folkloriste Marcia ouvert le processus de béatificaGaudet, « l’équivalent d’un ange tion, la première étape, et de canpersonnalisé pour la culture FOR AN ENGLISH onisation de Charlene. Membre cadienne ». ■ TRANSLATION VISIT du comité qui a préparé ce dosACADIANAPROFILE.COM sier, Warren Perrin a contribué à

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