Ellen Aucoin Grisaffe
Ellen Aucoin Grisaffe Current Hometown: Baton Rouge Grisaffe was born and raised in Grand Bayou. She left when she married at 19. Favorite Thing to Do I enjoyed walking the lane to my grandmother’s house. There were houses along that lane in front of my mother’s house and that lane separated us from the bayou. Favorite Memory Swimming in Grand Bayou. Most Missed The community. It was a very small community but people were either distantly or closely related or lifelong friends. Grand Bayou Traditions I still enjoy walking. My mother liked to garden and I still garden. [I miss] the community. It was a very small community but people were either distantly or closely related or lifelong friends.
Grant Gautreaux
Current Hometown: Thibodaux Gautreaux was born in Grand Bayou, but moved with his parents to Pierre Part when he was 6 years old. His younger brother was the last child born in Grand Bayou. Favorite Thing to Do I just liked to play outside. We had a big tree. We had a tree that got struck by lightning or something and had fallen down in the yard, but the tree didn’t die, the tree stayed alive, it just laid down in the yard and I just played on that tree all day, but it’s gone, though. Favorite Memory I would say probably playing on that tree and living next to my great grandmother. It was pretty nice. I got to know who my great grandmother was and we lived right next door to her. I just remember being in her house and visiting with her. My dad cut the whole property, cut the grass and everything, you know. I was just lucky cause, we didn’t really have other family that lived in Grand Bayou. It was just us and her at the time. Most Missed Not living around a bunch of people. I liked the seclusion of it, I guess. You know, it was quiet, there wasn’t a ton of people, you didn’t have to worry about like, I dunno, it was just peaceful. We lived out there with almost nobody else, and it was just really quiet all the time. Yeah, and we lived right on the bayou side so, you know, it was just beautiful out there. You didn’t have all this noise, like city noise and traffic noise all the time. You didn’t have that much light pollution. We lived right on the bayou side so, you know, it was just beautiful out there. You didn’t have all this noise, like city noise and traffic noise all the time.
Betty Crochet Breland
Current Hometown: Belle Chasse While Breland was born in Grand Bayou in 1938, her family moved away when she was an infant. But she visited her grandmother in Grand Bayou frequently. Favorite Thing to Do Get on my grandmother’s porch with my crawfish net and catch crawfish off of the porch during high water. Favorite Memory Riding my cousin’s bicycle to visit my grandmother on the other end or visit my aunt on the other end of the street. It was called (Latre Bewt) meaning the other end. Also had a Gambling Joint called (la comte brue) at the end of the street where I would go to get malts or milkshakes that were made with the minimum of ingredients. (milk & shaved ice) Riding the bus during high water going to school at St. Elizabeth’s and hearing the water squish between the wheels. Most Missed I miss my Grandmother Adele Dupre, no longer being in Grand Bayou. Grand Bayou Traditions All of the Rousseau cousins would gather for a reunion every year to tell stories of Grand Bayou, and bring pictures. They also gather at St. Elizabeth to have a mass for their ancestors. [Favorite Memory] Riding the bus during High waters going to school at Saint Elizabeth’s, hearing the water squish between the wheels.
Clarence “Bud” Rousseau
Current Hometown: Thibodaux Rousseau grew up in Grand Bayou with his family on the same property as his grandfather and extended family. His grandfather was a moss picker and he traded his land on Bayou Corn for the land on Grand Bayou to be closer to his job at the moss gin. Favorite Thing to Do Mostly fish. There was not a lot of recreation to where we were able to have a baseball or football team so we mostly fished and hunted. We did some swimming, we all learned to swim in Grand Bayou. They had a little pocket where they docked boats, when the oil field was booming. At this time when I was growing up, it was not used for anything else but to train the kids on Grand Bayou to go swimming. Favorite Memory In the back corner of the property we had two sloughs met and there was a big hole in the back, a little bay we used to call it. That was our fishing hole and there was a huge cypress and a live oak that was leaning over, it had been blown over a long time ago. We’d go back there and climb out on that oak and fish right off of it. That cypress was the biggest I had ever seen. I am not sure if it survived. I did not need a boat or anything I could just fish over the water right there. Most Missed I miss it being above water, I’d say. The property is no longer useable where you can live on. Grand Bayou Traditions I do a lot of fishing and hunting. I just fish different things in different places. In fact I would have been going on a fishing trip tomorrow but with the coronavirus, that had to be cut short. In the back corner of the property we had two sloughs met and there was a big hole in the back, a little bay we used to call it. That was our fishing hole.
David Schexnaydre
Current Hometown: Prairieville Schexnaydre’s mother was from Grand Bayou and he visited almost every weekend. Favorite Thing to Do Just go visit all my kin people and play out in the country. Favorite Memory Chatting with all my uncles cause they were some characters. And probably one of the funniest things was always chatting with my Aunt Hazel Rousseau Aucoin. She was such a funny lady, she would always make you laugh. Most Missed I miss everything about Grand Bayou. Everything. You brought a tear to my eye. We have so many stories we can tell from when we were little. Grand Bayou Traditions Knowing that we are a close-knit caring family and we always always always hug and tell each other we love ’em. I miss everything about Grand Bayou. Everything.
Donna Booty
Current Hometown: Plattenville Booty, whose mother grew up in Grand Bayou, was the first grandchild of the Dupre family that owned the grocery store by the bridge. Favorite Thing to Do I used to love to go to the store. The house was right next to the store. We were always in the store visiting. It was an old community all the people would come in and buy groceries and visit. Favorite Memory Visiting with my Great Aunt Lou. I really enjoyed visiting with her, she would show my pictures and tell stories and I would just stay there all day long. She would just talk and I would listen. Most Missed I miss my grandparents house being there. When all that happened, they moved my grandparents house to Paincourtville. When you were in the house, you could almost think you were still there. You know, but when you walked out and realized you weren’t in Grand Bayou. I do miss the house not being there and being able to visit on holidays. Grand Bayou Traditions We used to get together for every holiday and my grandpa would make a crawfish stew and that was the tradition for every holiday and we still to this day have that tradition in my parents and my family. With my children and my grandchild, we still do the crawfish stew. We used to get together for every holiday and my grandpa would make a crawfish stew and that was the tradition for every holiday and we still to this day have that tradition in my parents and my family.
Greg Leblanc
Current Hometown: Pierre Part Leblanc is from Grand Bayou and, as he says, “In fact I never really left Grand Bayou you could say because my mother and father still lived there until they were displaced.” Favorite Thing to Do All my life was hunting and fishing. I’ve always been there, I’ve always hunted and fished in the area. Favorite Memory A lot of favorite memories. My mama and daddy actually picked turtle eggs and hatched them and caught little turtles on the water. We did all the things that could be done — fishing truck lines, hunting, catching frogs, things like that. Most Missed I see it now, the habit that we have lost in the last 50 years. What the landscape was before and now, how it’s just eroding rapidly. I’m still there on a weekly basis especially during hunting season, so I get to see first hand how rapidly we are losing ground. Grand Bayou Traditions I still pick turtle eggs with my grandkids. Ever since they were two and three years old I still picked a few turtle eggs and hatched them and showed them how they did things in the olden days. I still pick turtle eggs with my grandkids. Ever since they were two and three years old I still picked a few turtle eggs and hatched them and showed them how they did things in the olden days.
Joey Dupre
Current Hometown: Belle Rose Dupre grew up in Grand Bayou and lived there for more than 20 yeras. Favorite Thing to Do Probably fishing because the bayou was 100 foot from our house. We had that, and we had a little pond, which was a 200-300 yard walk from there, so we fished a lot as kids. Favorite Memory That’s hard to say, I guess when we used to fish after a really big rain there’d be a lot of catfish, we’d catch a lot of catfish right there 100 feet from our house. We’d catch enough to, you know, have a big meal and stuff. That was probably my favorite thing. Most Missed Just the people mostly, because a lot of them were relatives. Basically it was such a small area, that we knew everybody, you know, we just knew everybody, all the family and everything. It’s kind of like one big family. When I was there, I think we might’ve had 100 people, so I mean there were no strangers in town, we knew everybody. So that’s probably what I’d miss the most. Grand Bayou Traditions No, not really I don’t think so. That’s pretty much all lost I think. Maybe just being from a small town, you tend to be more friendly, I guess, on average, you know, when you first meet people. That might be a hold-over maybe. We used to fish after a really big rain there’d be a lot of catfish, we’d catch a lot of catfish right there 100 feet from our house. We’d catch enough to, you know, have a big meal and stuff.
Judy Rousseau Clark
Current Hometown: Labadieville Clark grew up in Grand Bayou and lived there until she was 19 years old. Favorite Thing to Do My favorite thing to do was swimming with friends in the bayou. Favorite Memory Swimming in Grand Bayou with friends and family. Most Missed I miss the closeness of the community. Grand Bayou Traditions I guess the only thing I still do is try to stay in touch with family and friends, if you can call that a tradition. My favorite thing to do was swimming with friends in the bayou.
June Dupre Bouchereau
Current Hometown: Donaldsonville Bouchereau was raised in Grand Bayou and lived there until she was 20 years old. Favorite Thing to Do Having all the age group of you know…. within say 5-10 years, lower and higher to have all those friends and relatives to play with and spend time with. So if you bottled everything that I love to do…..I never did anything by myself. But just getting together with everybody. Favorite Memory Swimming in the bayou. Most Missed Being surrounded by everyone you knew and loved, and you knew they loved you. Everybody knew each other. That’s just the best secure feeling. Grand Bayou Traditions We have crawfish boils. I’m still in touch with my friends and family from Grand Bayou. [I miss] being surrounded by everyone you knew and loved, and you knew they loved you.