Have you ever wondered about the way of life in St. John the Baptist Parish more than 100 years ago? Well, you probably say, I can only read about it in books. I have been lucky enough to talk to someone that was alive more than a century ago, and he told me all about it.

I had the honor of sitting down and talking with Mr. Felix Simoneaux Jr. of LaPlace, who was born on May 24, 1905, at his home in Reserve. He is now 107 years old and has a mind as sharp as a tack. He married Myrtle Champagne in 1935 and lived in LaPlace. He still lives in the home in LaPlace he built in 1941 for a cost of $700. It has three bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, bath and more. He also remembers never having to lock their doors, but sometimes a little something might come up missing from the yard.                              

He told me he attended school in Montz until he reached the third grade, but he missed so much school because of working, they never wanted to promote him to the next grade, so he quit school and worked in the cane fields. He said he has worked many jobs. One was for the Higgins Company during the war. He worked on the landing crafts for the military. He also worked on the Mississippi River helping build the levees because they were not as high as they are today. He was paid 75 cents per day for a 12-hour work day. He also worked as a carpenter and earned 45 cents per hour. Mr. Felix had to work to support his wife and children.  

All of the roads were dirt with very few stores. One of the dirt roads that he remembered went back to what we know today as Peavine and Frenier A horse and wagon would stop at your house with groceries to sell, or you could swap chicken eggs for food. He said everyone had a horse and wagon, but sometimes you might see a car. If you got sick, Dr. Donaldson from Reserve would come to your home to check on you.  

Years later, Mr. Felix first had a model T Ford, then a model A Ford and in 1936, a Chevrolet. He said he would drive to New Orleans to sell vegetables he had grown at the French Market. He said all the roads were just trails until President Franklin Roosevelt was elected, and he improved the roads. If you had to cross the Mississippi River, you would cross in a small boat. Mr. Felix said he stopped working when he 75 years old and just quit driving at the age of 105 because there was too much traffic.   

He said he had never smoked or drank, and he ate fresh fruit and vegetables. He had a cow that he milked and had milk to drink as well as make cheese, butter and cream cheese for the home. He said he loved hogs head cheese and would have it for breakfast as long as it wasn’t too hot.  He never ate spicy foods or used black pepper and used very little salt. I asked him what he drank, and he said, “Tea and lemonade and when the Frost Stop opened I would go by there and get the root beer. I really liked it.”

Mr. Felix enjoys cooking and keeping his home next door to his two daughters, who provide help when needed. The children told me the story of the way they were doctored. At the beginning of every summer, they were given treatments cream of tartar in lemonade, and at the beginning of winter they were all given castor oil and Scott’s Emulsions by their father.

I really enjoyed talking with him and listening to his stories. I could have stayed all day and probably learned a few things. His children are blessed to have a father that has lived to see some pretty amazing changes in his day and can tell them the stories of long ago. If you have a relative that has lived almost a hundred years, you too might want to sit and talk with them and learn from them.

Special thanks to his children, Myrtle Robichaux, Audrey Terrio, Myra Simoneaux, Carey Simoneaux and Perry Simoneaux of the St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Wayne Norwood is owner of the Louisiana Treasures Museum located on Highway 22 West of Ponchatoula. For more information or to schedule tours call 225-294-8352.

Wayne Norwood is a lieutenant with the St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Department and owner and operator of the Louisiana Treasures Museum.