LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / February 11, 2000

Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Edward A. Dufresne Jr. looms largepolitically in St. Charles Parish, much as his home, Esperanza Plantation,looms large on River Road.

Dufresne, 61, has held one political office or another continually for 36 years, making him the political patriarch of the parish and, some say, a political kingmaker.

His influence is considerable, having learned his lessons well at the knee of his father, “Big Eddie” Dufresne Sr., a farmer, horse-breeder, restauranteurand would-be office-holder.

“Big Eddie” was born in 1899 in Lucy and served in World War I as a French interpreter after an automobile accident brought him to the attention of officers.

“Once he was on a train and there were two cars in an accident, blocking the track. The people were arguing, and he got out and started speaking Frenchto them. Soon, everyone was smiling and the cars were moved,” his sonrecalled.

After the war “Big Eddie” returned home to Lucy, but the 1920s were slim pickings for farmers at that time and he soon moved to New Orleans.

The ambitious Dufresne began as a streetcar conductor, living in rooms above a restaurant on Magazine Street. Before long he rented, then boughtthe restaurant, which he operated until the onslaught of the Great Depression.

That restaurant, known for 50 years as “The Friendly House,” was situated at the corner of Magazine and Joseph near the streetcar barn.

The Depression sent him back to St. John Parish. He purchased a farm inWallace, which he later sold in 1937 to raise the down payment of Esperanza Plantation just upriver from the Hale Boggs Bridge in Luling.

The original property was owned by Michel and Alexandre Labranche prior to 1765 and remained in that family until 1871 when it was sold to Charles Lafitte, who contributed its name.

Meanwhile, in 1924, “Big Eddie” married Irene Delahaye, a clerk at D.H.Holmes. However, it wasn’t until Oct. 26, 1938 that their only child, “LittleEddie,” was born.

Another prize was acquired in the early 1930’s – his prized trotting horse, “Jackie Bee,” which dominated horse shows until his retirement in 1952, four years before the horse’s death in 1956. The horse is memorialized in thename of one of Dufresne’s corporations, Jackie Bee Enterprises.

Politics also nibbled at “Big Eddie’s” ambitions, and after a stint as constable in Lucy he launched his political career in 1948 by running against long-time sheriff Leon C. Vial Jr., who had succeeded his father, Leon Sr., in office.Predictably, Dufresne lost. He tried again in 1952 and again lost. He took aimat a state representative seat in 1956 and again lost. Meanwhile, “LittleEddie” attended Hahnville High School and waited in the wings.

Construction of the present Esperanza Plantation house began in 1957, and “Big Eddie” was determined to make it a showplace. To that endconveniences were added, considered modern today, more than 40 years after its construction.

Besides the six bedrooms (two with fireplaces and all with a private bath), there is a centrally-controlled intercom system and a stereo system throughout the three-story house, a movie-screening room and a pool room, indirect lighting in the kitchen, dumbwaiter from the ground floor to the kitchen and remote-controlled door locks and lights throughout the house.

An old New Orleans furniture store was being torn down, and he bought the flooring and carpeting samples and recycled enough of the bricks and timber to reduce the total construction cost of Esperanza from $300,000 to $125,000.

“Little Eddie,” meanwhile, had his political fire burning. After finishing schoolat St. Stanislaus he went to Loyola University for an accounting degree andto finish law school. He married Dorothy St. Amant of Luling in 1961.In 1963 “Little Eddie” ran for and, four months after finishing law school, won the position of Clerk of Court, an office he held through 1978. On thatsame ticket was Police Juror Albert Laque, now parish president.

Meanwhile, he and Dorothy had four daughters – Debra Vial, Dana Authement, Denise Hymel and Dawn Dawson. They also have six grandchildren and one onthe way.

Dufresne then moved to the 29th Judicial District bench in January 1979 and, in 1982, to his present position on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

“Big Eddie” died in 1978. “Little Eddie’s” mother, Irene, died in 1988.The years have been good to Judge Dufresne, blessed with children and grandchildren, a prosperous host of enterprises and success at nearly everything he’s touched.

His sugar cane plantation is mechanized now, the 100 or so employees which once lived on site now downsized to a handful. For awhile he raised rice andsoybeans, but cane remains the staple crop.

His camp, inherited from “Big Eddie” on the river’s batture across from the plantation house, is a virtual museum of local politics, stuffed with campaign posters and other political keepsakes from 50 years.

And “Little Eddie” is big nowadays.

Back to Top

Back to Leisure Headlines

Copyright © 1998, Wick Communications, Inc.

Internet services provided by NeoSoft.

Best viewed with 3.0 or higher