Joy Rousseau Banta
Current Hometown: Paincourtville Favorite Thing to Do Ride in a boat and fish. Favorite Memory My house was the go-to house, and my family had a shed that my friends and I would play in all day; as well as riding in a boat and fishing by rowboat. Most Missed I miss the community and […]
Randy “Wop” Rousseau
Current Hometown: Belle River Rousseau was born in Grand Bayou. He moved away at 19, but moved back in 1991 and lived there until he was permanently evacuated in 2011. Favorite Thing to Do Being in the bayous before the alligators — there’s a lot of alligators in the water now that they didn’t have […]
Education // Bayou Way of Learning
By Shaun Breaux, Features Editor Grand Bayou may not have been the biggest or most developed area, but for the people born and raised in this bayouside community, they made it work not only out of necessity, but because they enjoyed their way of life. “Being five miles away from everything, like the grocery store, […]
The Families // Settling Along Grand Bayou
Grand Bayou was just a few families with Acadian ancestry that collected together on the bayou. From the lineage of the largest of those families, the Rousseaus and Daigles, to the arrangement of their homes in the community, for those who lived in Grand Bayou, these details shaped everyday life.
The Settlement // How Grand Bayou First Came to Be
By Wes Rhodes, Staff Writer Gustave Joseph de La Barre, or “Gus,” as people called him, was born in 1864, and is considered the patriarch of Grand Bayou according to De La Barre: Life of a French Creole Family in Louisiana. The De la Barre family text says that Gus was a natural leader who […]
Nell Aucoin Naquin
Current Hometown: New Orleans Naquin lived in Grand Bayou until she graduated from Nicholls and got married. Favorite Thing to Do There was a lady everyone called Aunt Lou, but she wasn’t everybody’s aunt. She would always manage to find stuff for the kids to do. My favorite thing to do in Grand Bayou was […]
Jessica Rousseau Baye
Current Hometown: Labadieville Baye lived in Grand Bayou her whole life until she got married at 23. Favorite Thing to Do Playing with the other kids in the summer, whether we were playing baseball in the front yard or swimming in the bayou. Favorite Memory Learning how to swim in the bayou. Once we learned […]
Heidi Rousseau Mattingly
Current Hometown: Napoleonville Favorite Thing to Do I loved to sing and swing all day long. Favorite Memory Every morning my grandmother would watch me, and my sisters get on the bus and would be waiting on us when we got off the bus. Most Missed I miss the memories of Grand Bayou — riding […]
Angela Rousseau Diez
Current Hometown: Kenner While not from Grand Bayou, Diez grew up going to visit her grandmother and extended family every other weekend. Favorite Thing to Do One of my favorite things to do was going with my grandmother to check on the turtle eggs I collected and hoped to sell. Favorite Memory On the trips […]
The Lost Bayou: Grand Bayou
by Lauryn Madere & Shaun Breaux, Managing Editor & Features Editor A community is a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common. It’s where people grow up, where they learn who they are. Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, neighbors and even classmates are some of the […]